


What We've Missed Without You

by peach_hime



Category: Diabolik Lovers
Genre: Angst, Children, Demons, Drama, F/M, Fanfiction, Healing, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pregnancy, Romance, Tragedy, Vampires, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-15
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2019-08-22 07:21:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 35,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16593407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peach_hime/pseuds/peach_hime
Summary: Blood Moon, the night that changed Yui Komori's life forever. Twelve vampires in the same room as her that night, a wicked plan brewed up by Karlheinz. They were all so wild, cruel, hungry, and sadistic...Yui finally had enough and managed to run away from that god-forsaken house before they could have their way with her again. But their animal-like hunger left an effect on Yui, forcing her to give birth various of times to their children even though they weren't there.But does Yui despise these children? No, they were hers and she would love them till the end of time. Even though they remind her sometimes of that horrid night.Years have passed and when Yui thought she finally had her life together with her adorable children...They come back into her life.





	1. Waning Moon

_Yui's skin felt like it was on fire._

 

_Her voice has give up on her long ago, so she cannot pathetically call out for help, even though she knew no one would come to her rescue_

 

_Various upon various of bite marks littered her once pure skin, her blood forcibly taken out of her body._

 

_She was no longer pure._

 

_They kept touching, biting, hurting, and using her._

 

_Not even god can help her out of this hell she was thrown into, but she still kept a little bit of hope in her._

 

_Hope that got her out of that house successfully after so long, yet in the end she was Eve._

 

_And Eve must return to the house of Adams._

 

* * *

 

 Yui's eyes shot open as she suddenly sat up, breathing heavily and clutching her chest to calm down her rapidly beating heart. She had that dream again...The pale blonde frantically looked around to see she was still in the small space she called a room and sighed in relief once she realized that she was safe. Yui wiped the cold sweat off of her forehead and looked over at the old-fashioned clock looming over her at the farthest part of the cream-colored room.

7:31

It was time for work. 

Before she could consider getting up, she felt a small figure shuffle under the futon's blanket. A head poked out, revealing messy snow-white hair and vibrant velvet-pink eyes that were still a bit tired from being suddenly woken up. Yui smiled at the small child and stroked his thick white hair.

"Good morning, Hayato."

"Good morning, Mama..." Hayato muttered, rubbing his eyes to fully awaken himself. The pale blonde smiled at the young child's cuteness and settled him down back onto the futon's pillow. "Go back to sleep, okay? You up for a while playing with your siblings."

"No! I wanna be with Mama!" Hayato huffed cutely, never ceasing to fail at making the older woman's heart flutter at his cuteness. Yui sighed and ruffled his hair, "If you can handle it, fine. But if you feel tired, go take a nap with Yuuta, okay?"

"Yes, Mama!" The young boy rolled out of the futon and onto the wooden floor, he got up and ran through the other mess of futons on the floor and opened up a drawer to get his clothes ready. Yui proceeded to get up and headed towards the bathroom to freshen herself up; she turned on the sink and got out sakura-scented facial wash in order to start cleaning her face. Once she was done, she got out a toothbrush, squirted some toothpaste on it, and started to brush her teeth.

"Mama..?"

"Hm?" Yui called out, her mouth still filled with the toothpaste-saliva mixture as she brushed her teeth. She saw Hayato standing by the tiny bathroom's door, wearing a white t-shirt and black shorts, he sadly looked down at the floorboards. "You were screaming in your sleep again...Reika-nee told me to leave you alone, but I was so worried, Mama."

That statement made Yui halt her actions, her expression turned into a sad one as she gazed at her son through the mirror.

He really did look similar to him...

The pale blonde then shook her head and spit the mixture out of her mouth, rinsing her mouth and toothbrush with water before turning to him with a smile. "Mama...Was having a really bad dream."

"What was in your bad dream?"

"...The ones filled with terrible monsters, that chased me around and around until I got tired." Hayato was too young to understand her situation back then, in fact she wanted _none_ of her children finding out who their fathers were because of that _god-forsaken_ night. For the meantime, Yui was going to push the memory back in order to protect her dear children. Hayato patted over to Yui and hugged her legs, snuggling into them. 

"Don't worry, Mama...Hayato will protect you from the monsters!" The six-year-old cutely exclaimed, the smile on Yui's lips grew wider as she picked up the small boy and sat him on the sink's counter. "Let's get you cleaned up for the day, your siblings must be waiting for us in the restaurant!"

To explain, Yui and her children lived with an old couple who owned a diner underneath the medium-sized apartment. Takeru and Shiori Murata found Yui out in the pouring rain during the last day of Blood Moon, they felt bad for her once seeing the bruises, scratches, bite marks, and dried blood on her and took her in. Yui would forever be grateful for the old couple, if they haven't...Then she would be on the streets with her children. Shiori was especially helpful towards Yui when she had her 'unexplained pregnancies'...Those vampires all came in her somehow, and she guessed their seed was mutated or something due to the Blood Moon's power and made her pregnant when they saw fit. It was honestly a horrible experience, going through some kind of pregnancy depression as Shiori and Takeru were caring for her every step of the way as if they were her real parents. Yui had no idea how to explain properly about the pregnancies to the old couple, but she thanked the lord that they didn't question it. 

By the end of the pregnancies, she had a total of  twenty-two children. All of them looked similar to the vampires. 

Normally, if you were raped violently and gave birth to that many children, you'd either treat them harshly or give them up, right? Well that's not what Yui wanted, it just seemed horrible to blame innocent children for their sudden upbringing...Besides, she always wanted to be a mother, it just happened...Unexpectedly...And a concerning amount of times. However, to Yui, she felt like children were brought into the world as gifts, and gifts should be treated with love, kindness, care so they can grow up to be respectable people. Just because Yui held some kind of ptsd because of their fathers, doesn't mean that she has to treat her children like the scum of the world...Okay, she might of done that with the first child she had for like a week until she forcibly got over her 'pity-party' and decided to be strong in order to raise him. That's why she pleaded to Takeru and Shiori to be an employee at the restaurant in order to earn her keep in the apartment, after about an hour they gave in and made Yui a waitress who works herself to the bone (even they constantly tell her to give it a break). Once Yui and Hayato were done cleaning up, they made their way out of their little room, into the living room, and out the door hand-in-hand as they walked down the aging wooden stairs. Once the parent and child made it down the last step, they were greeted with the smell of pancake batter, miso soup boiling, and various of meats frying wafting in the air. The morning's natural light peaked through the large glass windows of the diner to give it a more-lively look to the sky-blue walls, the white and black checkered floors, and the canary and french vanilla-colored seats and tables. Yui looked around the quaint diner until her velvet-pink eyes laid on the lethargic form of a young boy with pale blonde hair and his sapphire eyes shut, resting on one of the seats used for customers waiting to get a table. The woman sighed and headed over towards the twelve-year-old, Hayato still holding her hand, before she stood over his figure and called out to him:

"Yuuta, you know you can't sleep there."

"...It's so noisy in the backroom...Filled with little kids..."

"Now, now...They aren't that bad-" Before Yui could even finish her sentence, four small children (roughly five-years-old) ran through the diner while laughing loudly, holding a stuffed pink rabbit and tossing it around. A ten-year-old girl with short chestnut-colored hair that faded to pale blonde and cocoa-colored eyes came running after them. "OI! YOU BRATS GET BACK HERE! THAT ISN'T YOURS!"

"...And you doubted me." Yuuta chuckled, Yui laughed nervously in response. "Well...You have to give Harue props...She's the only one besides me who can control those quadruplets."

"Fine, fine...I'll get up." Yuuta sighed afterwards, slowly rising up from his spot and standing up to wear he stood only a few inches from his mother's nose. Yui smiled and looked down towards Hayato still holding onto her hand, "Sorry to ask you this, but can you watch Hayato here for me?"

"Why can't Reika do it?"

"You know she has a science-bowl to practice for."

"Justin?"

"He's already having trouble with Melissa and Christina, he'll probably forget about Hayato."

"...Momoi?"

"I...Don't even know where she is right now..." Yui blinked, only then turning her head to call out to a nine-year-old girl with strawberry-blonde hair that faded into pale-blonde and golden eyes, who was currently busying herself with teasing a seven-year-old girl with ruby-red locks done up in choppy pigtails and peridot eyes. "Kumiko! Do you know where your sister is?" 

"Hm? Nee-san? She went into town with Grandpa!-Ow! Don't bite me, shorty!"

"I'm not short, you mutt!" The seven-year-old girl, named Chiaki, exclaimed. The two girls carrying on their bickering. Yui sweat dropped, "Well...Momoi always liked Takeru-san..."

"...Fine." Yuuta sighed, taking Hayato's small hand out of Yui's grip and heading out to god knows where in the diner. Yui smoothed out her yellow and white waitress uniform and fixed her shoulder-length curly pale-blonde hair into a small ponytail. She made sure she was wearing her _special_ perfume before yelling out.

"Komoris! Roll call!" With those words, the children in the diner immediately dropped everything they were doing and lined up in front of their mother. She then started to call off names. 

"Yuuta, Hayato!" 

"Here, Mama!" The six-year old cutely chimed, currently being held but the half-awake Yuuta who yawned. "Where else do I go?"

"Kei, Minato!" 

"Here, Mother~!" The emerald-eyed twins winked, Kei flipped her ginger-colored hair as Minato fixed his pale-blonde hair into a small low ponytail.

"Chiaki, Asahi, Hanami!" 

"Here, Mom!" Chiaki yelled out, still somehow bickering with Kumiko. Suddenly a book came down upon her head, making the seven-year-old shut up instantly, Asahi adjusted his glasses so his peridot eyes glinted towards his sister. The pale-blonde then smiled at his mother. "Right here!"

"He he he, Asahi sure showed you again." Hanami giggled, her velvet-pink eyes glistening with mischief and her long curly ruby-red hair fraying crazily around her small body. 

"Justin, Melissa, Christina!" 

"Here, Mother!" Justin grinned, currently trying to deal with Melissa pulling on his dark ash-colored hair. The eight-year old was laughing as she yanked on Justin's hair, her grey eyes filled with glee and her curly dark grey hair a tangled mess from running around (probably with the quadruplets). Yui looked around the diner then back at Justin. "Where's Christina?"

The velvet-pink eyed ten-year-old lifted up his leg to reveal the small pale-blonde six-year-old clinging onto his leg like a small koala. Christina lifted her head to stare into her mother's eyes with her hooded ash-colored ones. 

"Hello...Mother..." She spoke softly and slowly, a speech impediment that really resembled _him_. Yui waved a small 'hello' to the small little girl before continuing with roll call. "Adam?"

"Yes, Mother." The eleven-year-old formally spoke out, his nose still buried in a book he borrowed from the public library to where you could only see his head of black hair, his blue-grey eyes scanning the pages with ease. Adam...Really looked like _him_...Sometimes, Yui couldn't look at Adam when she was having one of her 'moments' because she looked so similar to _him_. Well...Adam was his son after all...

"Kumiko?"

"Here!"

"Kana, Kousuke!"

"Right here, Mother!" The other set of twins cheerfully chimed in. With their curly pale-blonde locks and their velvet-pink eyes; why, they could practically could be identical twins! If only Kousuke didn't have that single blue eye...

"Harue, Fumuki, Hiroto, Kaede, and Kaoru?" 

"I'm here, Ma...With the brats as well-! OW! Quit pulling on my friggin' hair you munchkins! AND DIDN'T I TELL YOU TO GIVE THAT BACK?!" Harue yelled at the quadruplets in her arms. Fumuki was currently pulling on Harue's hair, her short light brown hair done with a small bow in the back of her head and her velvet-pink eyes glittering with a childlike innocence; meanwhile, Hiroto looked like he was about to fall out of Harue's grip with his dirty blonde hair hanging like a duvet and his brown eyes wide and sparkling as he laughed, getting ready to fall off onto the floor. Kaede was on Harue's shoulders, her curly pale-blonde hair that faded into brown was a complete mess with some leaves caught in the tangled chaos while her velvet-pink eyes were filled to the brim with energy as her face was smudged with dirt. Kaoru was pretty much the only one who was 'actually behaving', his short light brown to pale-blonde hair (thankfully) still combed neatly and his brown eyes showcasing a rather calm mood at the moment. Now, he was still apart of the quadruplets, and they were known to cause any kind of trouble...And Kaoru proved Yui's point when she saw the dirtied stuffed pink rabbit in his arms. Yui internally sighed as she knew who it belonged to and what was going to happen next.

"AWAAAH! M-MOMMY!" Yui felt a tug on the skirt of her uniform, her gaze fell upon a small seven-year-old with curly pale-blonde hair done up in small pigtails and lilac eyes welding up with tears. The woman knelled down to the little girl's level as she started to wipe her eyes with her small hands. "Airi, did they take Bonnie?"

"Y-Yes...Airi wasn't doing anything, she was being a good girl! A-And they took Bonnie away from Airi! Airi is sad!"

"Did you ask Kaoru for Bonnie back?"

"Airi did! A-And they didn't give Bonnie back to her! T-They dragged B-Bonnie through the dirt, Mommy!" The seven-year-old girl cried out, the quadruplets were yelling out 'No we didn't!', 'Airi dropped it in the first place!', 'Tattle teller!', and 'We were just having fun, Momma!'. Yui stood up and placed her hands on her hips with a stern look on her face. "Kaoru...Please give Bonnie back to Airi."

"Oh...Alright, Momma." the light brunette to blonde pouted as he tossed the dirty rabbit back to the lilac-eyed child. Yui continued on, "And?"

"We're sorry, Airi..." The quadruplets said together, the pale-blonde child sniffled and dried her eyes with her small hands. Airi hugged the dirtied toy close and nodded, "Airi forgives you..."

"There we are, was that so hard? Quadruplets, don't go taking other people's things without permission again, okay?"

"Yes, Momma."

"Good. Now, Airi, go with Kana so she can help you wash Bonnie." Airi nodded, Kana got the message and took the seven-year-old towards the stairs and headed back up to the apartment. The Komori children soon separated once everyone (besides Momoi and Reika) were accounted for and returned to their normal day. Yui quickly placed her name tag on her uniform and ran over to the back kitchen, where Shiori was cooking.

"Shiori-san, are we ready to open?"

"Just gotta wait on Takeru to get the fruit supply and we'll be ready to open!" Shiori smiled at the younger woman.

Today was another peaceful day.

 


	2. New Moon

The diner was lively like always; families, children, adults, couples, elderly, and people of different classes filled up the brightly-colored seats as they were surrounded by several different Japanese and western breakfast dishes at their tables.  Loud and happy chatter accompanied the sounds of cooking food, clanking dishes, and the footsteps and the busy waiters and waitresses trying to keep up with the busy Saturday morning breakfast rush, making sure to quickly clean up dishes and dropping them off at the dish washing station, collecting tips, filling drinks, taking orders, and serving food to the demanding townspeople. Yui finished scribbling down a family's order and dropped it off by the kitchen window, quickly picking up a coffee pot and going around to the tables who needed a refill. It was hard work, but it made Yui feel like she was useful around here after Shiori and Takeru let her stay in their home. 

Yui hated feeling useless.

The pale blonde quickly strode her way back to the large window that peered into the kitchen and gathered a large tray of breakfast foods, picking it up with ease and brought it over to a family who ordered it moments ago. With a smile on her face, she walked up to the family: "Alright, who ordered the traditional Japanese breakfast?"

"That would be me." An old man politely said, allowing Yui to place the bento box and bowl of miso soup in front of him. "Blueberry pancakes?"

"Me~!" A little girl happily cooed, becoming even more happy when Yui placed the stack of hot pancakes in front of her along with a small bottle of maple syrup. "Omelette?"

"That would be me, Komori-san." A woman rose her hand slightly, accepting the hot and fluffy omelette nestling against a scoop of white rice. "Breakfast sampler?"

"Me, Komori-san." A man accepted the plate of various of western breakfast foods and another plate of french toast, once the tray Yui was carrying was empty she handed the man a small bottle of maple syrup. She smiled at the family kindly as she placed the tray in between her arm and her body. "If you need anything, holler at me, okay?" 

"Thank you Yui-chan~!" The little girl smiled happily as she proceeded to dig into her breakfast, a smile broke out on the woman's face as she walked away from the table, heading over to the counters where her other friends where. The woman placed the tray behind the counter and stretched quickly in order to loosen up her muscles, Yui's friend noticed her and laughed a bit. "Service getting to ya?"

"Kinda, but a silly old breakfast rush won't bring down Komori Yui! Anyways, how's your brother doing Misa-chan?" The dark haired woman gave a curt nod, "He's doing well, he'll be able to get out of the hospital soon if everything goes well!"

"That's wonderful news, Misa-chan! When he gets out, you should bring him here! I bet you Shiori-san will make Yamato-kun as many pancakes as he wishes!" Yui laughed, making Misa's pink-lipped smile curl upwards even more. The two continued to talk about mundane things in their lives (such as Yui's children, Misa's home life, hobbies, etc.) until they were forced back into the cycle of working. Almost three hours has passed before the breakfast rush has almost come to and end and Yui was able to sit down and take  breather, the blonde's anemia had worsen over the years but alas she was too stubborn to take it easy often. There were cases of Yui falling over during busier services or straight up passing out during shifts, so there were times Shiori and Takeru insisted Yui take the rest of the day off; Misa eventually became her 'anemia girl' because she always provided medicine and cranberry juice during Yui's breaks (and she new what to do because of her brother's weak health). The pale blonde just finished her glass of cranberry juice in order to recover from her mild headache and sighed with a content smile on her face, her life may not be perfect to others...However, it was pure paradise compared to...

Well...Before...

Yui felt needed, productive, and most importantly happy in this quaint little diner...Before, she wasn't even treated as an equal. Constantly being called useless, tossed around like a worn-out rag doll, always being reminded that she was abandoned to be a food bank, and most importantly constantly robbed her blood...

She could still feel their bites all over her skin, just the remembrance of them made areas in Yui's skin burn, her head spin, and her heart quicken its pace-

_ting_

The sound of the bell dangling above the door chimed softly, pulling Yui back to reality before slipping and having another _moment_. Yui quickly got off the seat and cleaned off her uniform before walking towards the door, she stood in front of the customer and smiled. 

"Hello! Welcome to Dusk Diner, just one?"

"Yes, please." The customer spoke, dressed in a dark trench coat and a hat on his head to shadow most of his features. Yui didn't really process about the stranger other than it was a man from the voice, she took a menu from the little stand the diner had out front and led the customer over to his seat. The pale blonde handed him a menu and took out her notepad, clicked a pen, and positioned it to start writing, "What would you like to drink, sir?"

"Tea, please." The deep voice called out, something in the back of Yui's mind sparked a bit, however she just ignored it.

"What kind? We have Green, Black-"

"You know, Yui." The customer smiled, her velvet-pink eyed widening a bit, however Yui held her composure and nodded. She walked over to the tea making station behind the counter and looked through the various boxes of teas, that's when her eyes stopped on one box.

'Eden tea'

Something was wrong...

Yui took the box down and opened it, the fresh scent of roses and matcha filling up her nose. The woman grabbed a teacup and matching plate patterned with _apples_ and scooped some of the fine powder and dried petals into it, getting the kettle of hot water and pouring in until it reached below the rim. Yui stirred the tea in order for most of the mixture to dilute into the hot water before bringing it over to the stranger. Somehow, her heart was beating a bit faster than normal. 

"...H-Here you are, sir." Yui placed the plate and cup carefully in front of the man, then fumbling to get her notepad and pen out. "Are you ready to order?"

"Just an apple tart, please."

"O-Of course..." Yui quickly scribbled it down and took the menu from the man, practically running towards the kitchen window and placing the ticket on the wheel. Yui shook her head lightly as she felt a headache resurface, only this time stronger than the other accounts...As if she was going to slip into a _moment_. Today was not a day to be stubborn, she let out a shaky sigh before calling out to the dark haired waitress walking out of the employee's break room, probably just finishing a most likely one-sided conversation with Yuuta and a full conversation with Hayato.. "M-Misa-chan...Can you take care of that table over there for me? I'm...Going to go lay down..."

"Huh? Oh, of course...What did he order?"

"And apple tart..." Yui muttered before dragging herself over towards the stairs and climbing up them, what usually was an easy task became tiring. Once she finally made it up the stairs, Yui walked into the medium-sized apartment and pretty much collapsed onto the couch. The pale blonde woman unbuttoned a bit of her uniform and wiped the forming sweat on her pale forehead, her breathing slowly becoming heavy...She didn't understand, she took her medicine, drunk cranberry juice, and rested for thirty minutes...Why did she feel like she was about to pass out? Yui's eyes felt heavy, becoming the curtains of an ending act only to reopen to a new act. Flashes appeared right in front of her eyes...

That house, scattering roses, their eyes, the knife, her, their sweet moments, their horrible moments, the wolves, the ballroom party, blood moon...And most importantly:

Hundreds upon thousands of fangs on her body. 

That's when she heard it.

 **"Eve."** Yui snapped her eyes open and rose up from the couch, panting as she clenched her chest as her heart beat rapidly. The pale blonde's attempts to calm herself down were futile at that exact moment, especially when she turn her head to see the stranger from before. With a dry gulp, she weakly put up a fake front:

"W-Who are you? How did you get in here?! A-And how do you know that name...?"

"I'm hurt, Eve. You don't even remember me?" The stranger proceeded to take off the hat and ditch the trench coat, reveal those unmistakable golden eyes and that cascading waterfall of long white hair. Her eyes widen at the sight of the man as he smiled, revealing fangs. "It's rude not to know the grandfather of your children."

"K-K-Karl...H-Heinz..." Yui stutter, her mind blanking as she cowardly back away from the vampire, reverting back to her old ways when she was trapped in that god-forsaken house. He gave out another curt smile, "I'm glad you remember my name, it's been a while, Komori Yui."

"W-Why a-are you...?" Yui's words were caught in her dry throat as her body started to shake in fear, Karlheinz only chuckled at the human woman, pulling resemblances from a frighten lamb. "I have no intentions of hurting you, Eve. This is just a mere visit. I manage to find your location thanks to my familiars, pretending to be customers in that quaint little diner you work at. I have to say, I applaud your usage of vampire replant for perfume over these years...My sons couldn't locate you for years!"

Yui said nothing, going back to the logic that if she said one little thing wrong, she would get bitten. Karlheinz's chesire-like smile only widen as he continued on. 

"You have simply adorable children...My plan was a success after all...but now here's the real problem, who becomes my heir? Hm...Possibly Shuu's child? Ruki's? Or...Laughably, Carla's?-" With that sentence alone, Yui managed to pull herself a bit out of her scared state and snap at him defensively.

"D-Don't go anywhere near them!" Karlheinz was taken aback a bit, only to let out a deep chuckle that turned into a short laugh. "This is why you are the perfect Eve, your humanly morals and motherly nature made up for my incompetent wives."

"J-Just tell me what you want and get out of my home!" 

"Well, I suppose I can get to business." Karlheinz mused, pulling out a cream-colored envelope with a red wax seal of the Sakamaki crest sealing it. He handed it towards Yui with a 'charming' smile on his face. "A week from today is Subaru's birthday ball, I would appreciate it if you would attend. Besides, don't you think he should meet his child after so long?"

"..."

"If you're going to worry about attire, do not fret. I can order a tailor to make a custom dress and suit for your little one."

"...I...I-I..."

"Of course, it is your choice if you wish to attend. I will leave this in your hands for now, I've also put my contact information if you wish to attend so I can contact the tailor. I will be waiting for your answer, Komori Yui." Karlheinz placed the envelope in Yui's hands with a curt smile, shaking her back into pure silence and her velvet-pink eyes.

...Go back to that manor? See all of them...Again? After all of these years?

The vampire's golden eyes flashed for a moment before chuckling. 

"I assure you that they won't attack you...In fact, the boys missed you so dearly. They've acted so different after that night, the aura becoming so gloomy...They don't even speak to me unless absolutely needed. Which was the case beforehand, but now it's just pure silence...Rather boring if you ask me. They even locked up your old room, sometimes I would see each of them pass by it with a pained look or stare at it longingly. The most they would do to you is cry and hug you...But if anything bad were to happen, I will surely see to it."

Well, if he promised-NO! Yui shut her eyes tightly, he was only trying to manipulate her into coming to a ball full of vampires that want her blood. No, it wasn't happening again! She refused to get any of her children, especially Hayato, associated with vampires for their own protection. As if Karlheinz read her mind, he chuckled. 

"You do realize you can't hide the truth from them forever, correct? Especially when they all hit puberty, that's when their fangs grow in. You might as well start right now before anything serious happens to any of your children. We wouldn't want that to happen, yes?"

Now she understood why the Sakamaki brothers (besides Reiji) despised Karlheinz. As much as she hated to admit, it was wrong of her to hide the fact that her children were half vampire...She would have to tell them about their fathers too...

Oh, how she loathed the thought of that...However Yui had no choice in the end...She had to be rope back to that damned house.

"Mother? Do we have a guest?" The sound of a young girl's voice pulled Yui out of her spiraling insanity. She looked up to see Reika entering the living room, her curled black hair kept in in a neat ponytail and her clean rectangular-shaped glasses shielding her velvet-pink colored eyes. Karlheinz looked over at the eleven-year-old girl and gave her a closed-eyed smile. "Why, who do we have here?"

"...Komori Reika, sir...Who are you?-"

"Reika, don't." Yui's voice called out, making the young girl's eyes widen, never hearing her mother so demanding and serious. Karlheinz laughed and knelled down to Reika's level. "I'm Grandfather, your mother and I were just catching up."

"Grandfather?...But I thought Takeru-san was our grandfather."

"I'm your biological one. You may call me whatever you wish...Now, would you like some candy?" Karlheinz pulled out a wine-colored lollipop with a dark blue ribbon wrapped around the stick, offering the treat to the eleven-year old. She worriedly looked over at her mother, who slowly stood up and her facial expression became even more serious. **"Reika. Don't."**

"Well, I'll give this to you for now. I'll be up to you if you eat it or not." Karlheinz placed the lollipop in Reika's hand, who weakly accepted it while continuously looking over at her mother for answers. Karlheinz bowed his head towards Yui with a smile and left the medium-sized apartment. It was silent for a moment, the mother and daughter standing in their exact place until Reika tried to break the silence. "Mother, I-"

Yui suddenly felt to her knees, tears welling up in her velvet-pink eyes and falling down her pale face. Her hands covered her face as she let out a choked cry, Reika dropped the lollipop and ran to her mother with a worried expression. 

"M-Mother! What's wrong?!"

"I-I...-hic-...I-I'm such and awful person! -hic- I-I can't even protect my own children! P-Please forgive your mother for being so weak! I-I'M SO USELESS! I DESERVE TO BE TOSSED TO THE CURB! I-"

"MOTHER, SNAP OUT OF IT!" Reika pulled Yui's hands away, only to see blank slates of velvet-pink eyes. The eleven-year-old shoulders fell at the sight, her mother was so...

Broken.

"Mother, you aren't any of that! You've been so strong providing for us and protecting us just by yourself! We should be the burdens on you, not the other way around! Mother, I-"

"Don't bother, it's useless." A new voiced entered the scene, Reika turned her head to see golden cat-like eyes, silky long pale-blonde hair that faded to pure white tied into neat twin tails, and her neck and lower face covered by a long black scarf wrapped around it. Reika's hands lowered from Yui's face, "...Onee-sama..."

Momoi walked over towards her mother's crippled form, she knelled down a bit and patted her head comfortingly as she mindlessly cried, suddenly striking her against the neck. The older woman's eyes rolled back and she fell to the ground, passed out. Reika immediately then tended to her mother and took her to the couch, with the help of Momoi. The twelve-year-old noticed the envelope on the couch and picked it up, noticing the Sakamaki crest on the wax seal. 

"What's this?" Momoi muttered to herself, making a connection that it probably had to do something with that man who was claiming to be their biological grandfather. Normally, Momoi didn't bother to stick her nose in someone else's business...

But if something like this made her mother break down, it was definitely her business. Momoi opened up the envelope and saw the text written in old-styled calligraphy:

**_To Miss Komori Yui,_ **

**_You are formally invited to Sakamaki Subaru's birthday ball held at the Sakamaki Manor on November 4th at eight o'clock in the evening._ **

**_The dress code is formal black tie_ **

**_We hope to see you then._ **

 

Momoi then noticed an extra detail on the invitation.

_xxx-xxx-xxxx_

_If you wish to contact me about attending or not,_

_Karlheinz_


	3. Waxing Moon

After yesterday's _incident_ , Yui was told (more liked begged) to have a day off by Takeru and Shiori. Yui was practically trapped in the medium apartment a floor up from the lively diner, Reika there to make sure her mother was 'fully resting' for the rest of the day. The raven haired girl exited the kitchen with a steaming cup of cranberry tea and a small plate of sliced strawberries, walking over towards the older woman and setting the tableware on the sandalwood coffee table.

"Here you are, Mother."

"Thank you, Reika. You didn't have to do this, you know."

"Nonsense, if it is concerning your health, then I must tend to it." A smile formed on Yui's lips when she heard that slip out of the eleven-year-old's lips. "You're so responsible, Reika-chan."

"Naturally I must be the second caretaker after you, Mother. Onii-sama would rather bring his full attention towards novels, Onee-sama is not even here at the moment, and do not get me started on that lazy oaf-"

"Reika-chan, what did I say about being mean towards Yuuta?"

"...To not call him mean names in front of him or when he isn't around..."

"That's right." Yui softly replied, picking up the white teacup and lightly blowing on it before taking a sip of the sweet yet tart cranberry tea. "I don't really understand, Reika-chan. Why do you not like your older brother? You like Momoi and Adam, but not Yuuta. Is there a certain reason?"

"It's just...I put so much hard work into everything I do while he can barely lift his eyes for half an hour and still be socially accepted! He's the first born in our family and yet he can barley act like a functioning human! Yuuta is lazy, insufferable, improper, and unbefitting for the eldest Komori! But is he excommunicated like the buffoon he is? No, he's praised for barely participating in class while _I'm_ the try-hard, I'm the prude, I'm the one who alwasy has to fix his mistakes! I'm-!" Before Reika got out of control, Yui quickly set down the tea cup and cupped the dark haired girl's face. Two sets of velvet-pink eyes stared at each other; one of surprise looking up and one with a calming warmth gazing down. The pent up rage in the eleven-year-old girl slowly flowing out of her like a small stream in the woods.

She was just like her father...

"Reika-chan, what the other children say doesn't apply to you nor does it matter; what matters is that you're trying your best every single day without a fail. Sometimes, people's words can hurt you very much to the point where you get upset and frustrated...But it's important to not let that overcome you and to make sure you're in the right set of mind. You two might have your differences, but both you and Yuuta-kun struggle everyday and manage to be brave enough to overcome it each day. Don't let other's words ruin the chance you have, Reika-chan...The chance of getting to know Yuuta-kun's thoughts and struggles." Yui smiled at the young girl, proceeding to wrap her in a warm embrace as she closed her eyes. "I'm so proud of you, Reika-chan. You're so grown up...But it's okay to be a child now, it's not the time to be worrying about that just yet. Don't worry about being enough for others, you're always enough for me."

Reika was silent, but Yui knew she captured her daughter with her words when she felt those small and precious hands wrap around her and lean her head against hers without hesitation. Yui's smile grew as her hand gently and tenderly patted the young girl's back, treating her as if she was a fragile wine-colored rose in a garden. it was silent between the two for a few moments until Reika cleared her voice and spoke up softly. "I'm sorry..."

"It's fine, everyone makes mistakes. That's why we learn from them and continue to grow from them every day."

"Mother...May I ask you for a favor?"

"Hm?"

"Can you sing me that song?...If it isn't too much of a bother." Yui chuckled at Reika's hesitation in asking, it was always that one song with her children. Hell, nine of her children were absolutely obsessed with this single song she sung...Yui didn't even know why they liked it, it was a rather depressing song. Maybe it was her fault because she sung it to her children when they were babies and just kept the tradition going as her family continued growing like the plant it was; alas, Yui cleared her voice and her soft voice resonated throughout the room.

_"kurutta sairensu ni hisonda kuro no kureidoru kashin ni yurete_

_"moshi, owari ga aru nara, oshiete hoshii" muku na hitomi ni kotaeru imi wa naku..."_

 

Yuuta, Reika, Kei, Minato, Chiaki, Asahi, Hanami, Airi, and Hayato...They were absolutely in love with this song (and all of its minor changes to suit their tastes) while the rest of the children only liked it to a certain degree, not hesitating to ask for a different song in Yui's little 'song book'. Yui had a theory of some sort about why this happens...It wasn't a theory she was fond of, however. The reason why those nine love that sad song so much...

Was because their fathers loved that song.

Just thinking of them brought back bad memories...And yet here Yui was, still not letting go of this one stupid song she always sang for those vampire brothers. Maybe the reason why she was so attached to it as well was because of the good memories it brought her...Before that night. Yui's hand went up to Reika's head and she started petting her curled raven-colored hair while she sang to the eleven-year-old, her velvet-pink eyes opening slightly as she started to dwell in the past.

_"Did you call for me, Reiji-san?" Yui stepped into Reiji's study, quietly shutting the door behind her so she wouldn't create a lot of noise. The raven-haired vampire had his back facing her while he was confined to his desk, his always perfect posture started to fade away , and he was clad in a white dress shirt and black trousers to go along with his shoes, his single white glove no where in sight. The vampire turned his head so that only his profile was exposed to her, his sharp wine-colored gaze slicing through her petite figure. Reiji sighed and took off his glasses, "I did, I need your assistance with something. Surely you can handle something as simple as this."_

_Yui ignored the typical rude comment and made her way over to the older man, standing away from him at a comfortable distance as she folded her hands in front of her, awaiting to her what the second eldest wanted from her. Reiji turned his chair towards her and uncrossed his long legs, his wine-colored eyes giving off a rather blank stare._

_"You're standing too far, come closer."_

_Yui gulped, mentally preparing herself to be bitten. Normally, Reiji wouldn't hesitate to demand her to submit to him and drink her practically dry, but in this manor Yui learned to mentally prepare and assume everything. Hesitantly, the young blonde walked closer towards Reiji so she was only about less than a foot away from him, that's when she felt him grab her wrist forcefully and pull her towards him, so that she would end up landing in his lap. Yui's cheeks bloomed scarlet as she was positioned so her knees were pressed against the available space of the chair, straddling Reiji's lap, her hands gripping the top of the chair, and her head just halfway higher than the vampire's. Reiji's wine-colored eyes stared deeply into her velvet-pink ones, making shivers run down Yui's spin as she suddenly stuttered out:_

_"R-Reiji-san?!"_

_"Stay there." He sternly demanded, Yui followed his orders in fear of making him angry (like the last few times...). Suddenly the teen felt his head fall onto her shoulder, she looked down at the top of his silky black hair in surprise as she felt his steady breath coating over her clothed shoulder. He then made the most bizarre request:_

_"That song...The one you sung for Kanato. Sing it to me."_

_"E-Eh?"_

_"I need to refresh myself, it's something even as simple as you can do." The red on Yui's cheeks darken a bit more: How did he hear that song? Yui mentally shook her head and cleared her voice before the words slipped out of her lips like warm honey._

_"kurutta sairensu ni hisonda kuro no kureidoru kashin ni yurete..."_

_Time seemed to stand still for the two while Yui continued softly singing the song, seconds passed before she gained the courage to allow one of her hands to wander towards Reiji's head. She began to stroke his hair softly and tenderly as she continued singing, a smile formed on her pale pink lips as she closed her velvet-pink eyes. She had to admit, as weird as this was for her, Yui preferred this Reiji a lot more than the one who constant criticized her every step she made and wouldn't hesitate to bring a riding crop against her skin if he found something worth punishable towards her, despite how small and insignificant it seemed. By the time the song was over, Reiji's hands were placed around Yui's waist, his garnet eyes were closed, and he said nothing. This was usually the time he would coldly order Yui to stop touching him or possibly push her off (this was a fifty-fifty chance, though), however he said nothing while his breath was steady and more relax. The smile on Yui's lips didn't disappear as she open her eyes; she was happy to be of use in this household, but now it was time for her to retreat to her room and hope that none of the triplets suddenly barge in and make a meal out of her for the next two hours. As the pale blonde went to move away, one of Reiji's hands quickly grabbed her wrist, shocking the teenager and freezing her in place on top of his lap._

_"Don't...Stay there."_

_"A-Alright..."_

_Yui went back to her original position, and gently pushed Reiji's head to her shoulder while stroking his hair(just to say if he would say anything). The raven haired male said nothing for various of passing moments, making the pale blonde grow uncomfortable in her current position, her knees and thighs starting to burn a bit. After what seemed like a century, Yui heard something that made her eyes widen, even though it was the smallest mutter under Reiji's breath:_

_"...I love you..."_

Yui pulled herself out of her thoughts and slowly pulled herself away from Reika once she was finished with the song. She smiled at her eleven-year-old daughter and smiled. 

"Now, I better hurry up and drink this tea before it gets cold. We don't want that, do we?" Reika nodded in response and sat correctly on the sofa. The mother and daughter managed to move past this moment and talked about various of things, even though Yui allowed the younger girl to talk since she never really did anything herself because of how weak she tend to get after periods of time. However, the poisonous thought was still lingering in Yui's mind...Then it suddenly turned her thoughts to the party...

She shouldn't go...

But Karlheinz would surely do something if she didn't...He knew where she and her children live now.

She'll only cower in fear just stepping in that house.

Maybe she can talk to Karlheinz about leaving her alone afterwards...

Stepping even within five kilometers within that area was suicide...

But her children should meet their fathers...

They shouldn't know about how they were brought up.

It's better than letting them find out later in life...

You escaped, don't step back into their lives now...

You need to face your fears...

Yui didn't know what to do anymore... 

* * *

Meanwhile, down at the diner, business was going smoothly as usual. Everyone was eating, having a good time, and going with their day as if there wasn't anything wrong with the world going on as of right now.

Well...Except for the eldest Komori daughter.

Momoi was in the backroom, sitting at an old wooden desk and staring at the invitation, reading the calligraphy what seemed like the hundredth time as she practically glared holes into piece of cardstock while she thought in silence.

"That man...Cannot be my grandfather...I haven't even met my own father. Does he really expect me to accept the fact that he somehow just waltzed into our home and made my mother fall into a mental breakdown. I wasn't there for the whole conversation...But from what I can piece together, it all has to do with this ball and that man." The twelve-year-old let out a sigh as she stared at the phone number with a serious expression. Her thoughts were faltering from left to right, from defense to offense, what was good for her mother or what was good for satisfying her curiosity. Momoi's golden eyes trailed up to the old phone sitting at the corner of the wooden desk, fueling her thoughts even more:

"He left his contact information...Naturally, I should call it and ask him...But I can't go into this blind, I must have a plan." The pale blonde-to-white haired female sat there, her thoughts running from left to right, bumping against the walls of her head, and finally collided on an agreement for what she should do at the very moment. It was all of that man's fault for altering her mother's mental health, so it was perfectly reasonable to call him and question him about how he knew her mother, what he was to her, what happened that day, and such other information. With her decision set in mind, she picked up the phone and wound up the correct numbers until the entire number was written out. The twelve-year-old placed the phone to her ear and anxiously awaited for the other side to pick up, she mentally told herself to calm down and  quickly planned out what she was going to say until the ringing stopped and a voice was on the other line.

 _ **"Hello, this is Sakamaki Tougo's office. How may I help you?"**_ A feminine voice answered, making Momoi furrow her fair-colored eyebrows. _"Sakamaki Tougo? I guess Karlheinz is some kind of pseudonym..."_

"Ah, yes...Is Sakamaki Tougo available at this time? I wish to speak to him."

_**"I can check to see if Sakamaki-san is avaible. To whom am I speaking to?"** _

"Komori Momoi."

 _ **"Please hold on for a moment."**_ The woman on the other line hung up, Momoi kept the phone close to her ear and thought. Sakamaki Tougo...Sakamaki Tougo...Sakamaki Tougo...Where has she heard that name before? She wasn't really good at recognizing famous people since she's lived her life without internet...She'll be sure to ask Adam later. Suddenly the woman's voice appeared on the other side of the line again. **_"He says he can take your call now, I'll be switching you over to his line."_**

"Thank you, miss." Momoi politely thanked and awaited for the awaited moment, with one last sigh to calm herself down she was ready to face the deep voice that came on the other line. _**"Why hello there, how may I help you?"**_

His voice was deep and cold, sending chills up the young girl's spine.

"Hello. I am calling you to discuss something rather important with you...If I may ask...Who are you to my mother?" 'Tougo' chuckled before answering. _**"I am the father of your father...Well...The relationship is more difficult than that, but I'd like to be call your grandfather."**_

"How did you get into our home?"

_**"I have my sources. Now, Momoi, are you just calling your sweet grandfather just to bombard him with questions? I'm a busy man you know."** _

"I...Apologize...But this is rather important to me." Momoi's hand clutched the handle of the phone tightly, something about how he said that made her annoyed. "...Why did you make my mother cry?"

**_"I didn't say anything in the slightest to upset her, I only invited her to a birthday ball. I believe it's the history between her and the guest of honor that made her upset."_ **

"How so?"

**_"That's going to take a while to explain, dear."_ **

"I have all day, believe me." Karlheinz chuckled again, **_"You're just like your father, Momoi. It's almost hilarious. I cannot give too much away...But it involves you and your siblings."_**

"What are you talking about?"

**_"There is a reason why most of you don't look alike."_ **

"What are you implying, Sakamaki Tougo?"

 _ **"Now, now, let's not get upset. It's rather difficult to explain over the phone, so I'll make a deal with you. How about we set up and appointment and meet in person, then I can tell you what you want to hear."**_   This took Momoi off-guard: He was really inviting someone who he has never met and only talked to for a few minutes on the phone? Regardless, the golden-eyed twelve-year-old shook her head to focus her mind on the conversation and cleared her voice before answering professionally. "...When and where?"

**_"Tomorrow. We cannot meet at my office since there's something rather important coming up that everyone is preparing for, so we can meet in my home. Does that sound fine with you?"_ **

Now this guy was inviting her to his house?! This screamed stranger-danger...

"I'm only twelve...How am I supposed to get there? I can't drive."

**_"I'll send over a limousine, the driver can safely take you to my home and you won't be in any sort of trouble."_ **

...This was stupid...But Momoi needed answers.

"What time?"

_**"I was thinking around thirteen o'clock, are you fine with that?"** _

"...Make sure the driver picks me up a block away from the diner."

 ** _"Perfect. I hope to see you soon, my precious granddaughter."_** Karlheinz laughed, Momoi swore she could hear him grin before he hung up. The blonde-to-white haired girl set the phone down and let a shiver travel down her back. She was known for sneaking past her family and getting into all sorts of weird adventures...But this takes the cake on 'most idiotic decision'. Momoi sighed and sat up from the wooden chair, ready to go and find Adam until a small voice came from behind her:

"Whatcha doing, Onee-chan?"

"Airi...How did you get in here? The door is locked."

"The other door wasn't...Airi was playing outside with the triplets then got bored." The pale blonde little girl snuggled her precious stuffed rabbit against her chest with a cute smile on her fair-colored face. "You going somewhere, Onee-chan?"

"I am...It's important business."

"What kind of important business?"

"I'm meeting with someone tomorrow at thirteen o'clock. I'm going to his house."

"Is it far? You can't drive, Onee-chan." The lilac-eyed girl tilted her head questioningly, making the older girl sigh silently. "A limousine is going to pick me up."

"What's that?"

"A really fancy car with many seats and boxes that serve juice..."

"Ooh! Ooh! Airi wants to come! Airi wants to ride the fancy car and drink juice!"

...Fuck.

"You can't, Mother will be worried about you." A pout formed on Airi's face, "What about you, Onee-chan?"

"You know she's used to me slipping out. I won't be gone for long."

"But Airi wants to go too! Airi wants to see what it's like to be like Onee-chan!"

"Komori Airi, you can't go. That's final." The fair-haired girl pushed the chair in and placed the invitation back in its envelope. That's when Momoi heard a muffled whining sound that was slowly growing louder by the second, immediately turning her head to see the seven-year-old girl pouting as tears were starting to form in her eyes. Momoi's cat eyes widen at the sight...God dammit, Airi was going to throw the biggest tantrum in history if she didn't extinguish her now. "Komori Airi, I swear to god if you start-"

"B-B-But Airi wanna go with Onee-chan!"

"Like I said, you can't-"

"It's not fair!" 

"Nothing in life is fair, please don't throw a tantrum."

"Not fair! Not fair! Not fair! Airi wanna go with Onee-chan in the fancy car and drink juice with her! Airi wants to spend time with Onee-chan because she never get to see her home ever! Onee-chan is always gone! I WANNA I WANNA I WANNA!" Airi stomped her feet on the wooden floor repeatedly and the tears forming in her eyes started to become more prominent. Momoi made her wave over to the lilac-eyed girl and tried to calm her down, but her attempts were futile. That's when Airi exhaled, Momoi knowing all too well who she was going to yell for:

"OBAA-SAN!-" Momoi immediately slapped her hand over Airi's mouth and looked at the door to see if Shiori heard the small girl's surprising loud voice, when no one came Momoi sighed and looked down at her younger sister. "Fine...You can come. However, you have to follow these rules...Okay?"

Airi nodded, tears still swelling up in her eyes.

"When I take my hand off your mouth, you will not scream...Got it?" Airi nodded once again, allowing the older girl to remove her hand away from her mouth. The seven-year-old girl sniffled and practically squished her stuffed rabbit against her chest. Momoi continued, "Rule 1: You absolutely cannot tell anyone about this. Not even Mother...Do you understand?"

"Airi understands..."

"Rule 2: You will not act out irrationally. We're going to someone else's house, so you have to be on your best behavior."

"Okay..."

"Rule 3: Do not attempt to listen in to what I'm talking about, you can bring whatever you want to entertain you...But DO NOT try to come into the room or listen to what I'm talking about."

"Okay."

"And finally, rule 4: If anyone asks where you were at, tell them you were in town with me. Okay?"

"Yes, Onee-chan."

"...Good...Now...Run off." A smile immediately appeared on the pale blonde's face, somehow her tears seemed to have magically disappeared and she skipped off to exit the backroom. "Hooray! Hooray! I get to spend time with Onee-chan! Hooray!" 

Once Airi left, Momoi sighed and settled herself down on the worn couch in the room, rubbing her temples as she sought for a plan.

She hopes she was making the right choice... 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think will happen next?


	4. First Quarter

Momoi carefully brushed any dust particles off of her burgundy blouse, fixing the golden buttons fastening the article of clothing together, and neatly tying the thin black ribbon around her neck to a pristine condition. The pale blonde-to-white haired girl smoothed out her knee-length black skirt that draped over her stockings of the same color, her burgundy loafers shined perfectly despite how many times Momoi has worn the things. Once satisfied with her appearance in the bathroom mirror, she turned her head to call for her little sister:

"Airi! Are you almost done?"

"Hai, Onee-chan! Can you help Airi with her bows?" The small girl skipped over to the twelve-year-old, her curly pale-blonde hair tied into two neat braids that barely passed her shoulders. Momoi knelled down and took the black ribbons out of Airi's hands, tying them to the ends of her hair until they were to her satisfaction. "Did you bring everything with you?"

"Mm-hm! It's all in Airi's backpack! Airi has her coloring book, her crayons, her scrapbook, the things to finish decorating it, animal crackers, and Bonnie!" The seven-year-old gestured to the 'Rilu Rilu Fairilu' themed backpack strapped to her back, then proceeded to turn towards Momoi and picked up the white skirt of her dress. "Ne, does Airi look fancy, Onee-chan~?"

"Yes, you look very fancy and pretty." The eldest Komori monotonously replied, nevertheless the response made Airi jump in place cutely. She was wearing a long-sleeved white and black sailor-themed cotton dress that reached just below her knees, tiny black anchor patters circled around the skirt of Airi's dress, just above the black lining. Her black socks were folded at the ankle so that it could barely touch the top heel of her pearl-white shoes that were only reserved for the few times the Komoris went to church. Momoi got up from her kneeling position and went into the other room, gathering a small assortment of items she felt were necessary for the 'meeting' with Karlheinz or Sakamaki Tougo or...Any other alias he went by. Once the blonde-to-white haired girl was ready, she turned towards Airi who right behind her. "Are you ready to go?"

"Uh-huh! Airi can't wait to ride the fancy car with Onee-chan~!" The seven-year-old chirped as she held onto the twelve-year-old's cold hand. Momoi would of laugh if she could work it up, this is where one of Airi's main concerns lie. She then led the small girl out of the bedroom they shared with their other siblings and mother, passing the living room where Adam was invested in his newest novel and occasionally nursing a cup of strawberry lemonade. Without making a sound, the two girls quietly strode their way over towards the front door that lead to a cascading set of aging wooden stairs that creaked with each step. However, before Momoi could even think about reaching for the doorknob, her brother's voice entered her ears.

"And where do you two think you're going?" Adam inquired, not even bothering to look up as for his ash-colored orbs were more interested on the words on the next page. Momoi gently squeezed Airi's hand, signalling her to allow her to talk in her place before clearing her voice. "I'm going to the park downtown, Airi wants to see the ducks."

"Is that so? Did you tell Mother?"

"I told her after dinner yesterday, she allowed us." Momoi's voice slowly harden within each passing second. Between the two siblings, their clashing auras made the temperature drop in the room as only the comforting sound of Adam turning to the next page of his book sliced through the silence. Finally, the dark haired boy spoke up. "Very well, make sure you don't stay too late. Mother would be very worried about you two, especially since we're attending church tomorrow."

"Duly noted, have fun with your new book." 

"I am. This is quite the interesting story, I can lend it to you once I'm finished." Adam's pale finger tapped on the dark red hardback cover of the book, on the very front had the words printed in a gold cursive font: 'The Curse of Eve'. With Adam's suspicion down, Momoi opened the door and took Airi downstairs, shutting the door behind her. The two made their way through the diner and Momoi immediately replied to anyone who asked where the two girls were going about the lie she made up for Adam, allowing them to wish them safety and then carry on with whatever they were doing beforehand. Momoi was extremely thankful no one every questioned her methods, her family basically gave up on questioning her actions when she was Airi's age and Momoi thanked the Lord that no one tried to correct her behavior back then so she could get away with this very risky journey. The two girls stepped out of the comforting warmth of the diner to be greeted with November's surprisingly warm breeze and midday sun, walking along the sidewalk to pass by various of neighboring shops and lines of dying trees until Momoi spotted the black limousine parked by the sidewalk a block away from the diner, just has she request of Karlheinz. When the two Komori girls made it closer to the vehicle, the driver came out of the front seat and made his way over to the other side of the passenger seat, opening the door to the girls before giving them a curt bow. "Komori Momoi and Airi, Karlheinz-sama has sent me to pick you two up."

Almost instantly, Airi let go of Momoi's hand to jump into the red velvet interior of the limousine with an excited laugh. The lilac-eyed little girl made herself comfortable on the seats and looked around the inside with awe while her golden-eyed sister followed her and made calmly entered the back seat, allowing the driver to close the door behind her and head back to the driver's seat. After a couple of moments, the vehicle started to move and drive out onto the streets; Airi was looking out the window with a gleeful smile on her face as she pointed out to Momoi all of the buildings and houses they were familiar with, saying about if her friends knew about this they would be extremely jealous. Momoi on the other hand was ignoring her younger sister's chirping, her mind drawing back to her conversation with Karlheinz on the phone...

_"If I piece together what that man said yesterday...The reason that mother was upset was something that involved me and my other siblings...Karlheinz then implied the reason why most of us didn't look alike...Is that man saying that something happened between Mother and our father? Well, according to what that man said...We have different fathers. Mother isn't the type of woman to cheat on someone, even if someone paid her...So something happened with a group of men and Mother to create us. But the real question is: Who are out fathers?...Who is my father? Do they even wish to see us? I've never seen any of them for as long as I have lived, so does that mean they learned of Mother's pregnancies and just left her? Did they die? Do they even know we exist? Does...My father ever think of me?-No, this isn't the time to be sentimental. You have mission, Momoi. As the eldest daughter of the Komori family, it's your responsibility to figure out what that man meant and what he is to Mother...That Karlheinz, my grandfather...He's hiding something important-"_

"-chan! Onee-chan! Onee-chan! ONEE-CHAN!" The golden eyed girl blinked rapidly as she was pulled out of her thoughts, feeling the tiny pale blonde girl pulling at the sleeve of her burgundy blouse. Momoi cleared her voice and turned her head towards Airi. "Yes Airi?"

"Do you want juice? Mr. Driver said we can have juice in this little fridge!" Airi proceeded to made her way towards a black mini refrigerator that was built into the compartment below the window separating the backseats and the front seats. The lilac-eyed little girl opened the mini fridge carefully to reveal several bottles and a couple of snacks, Momoi sighed and said yes. Maybe a drink would help her calm down, she was thinking way too much about the technicality of everything. There was no point in stressing out now, after all she was going to that man's house in order to have a calm meeting and look for the answers she sought out for. Airi pulled out a bottle with no label that contained red liquid, proceeding to yank off the glass stopper and sniffed the contents. It wasn't long before her face twisted in disgust and let out a cry of discontent. 

"EW! Onee-chan, this juice smells icky!" 

"How so?"

"Here, you smell it!" Airi walked over to her sister, making sure the liquid didn't spill all over the car, and handed the bottle to the twelve-year-old. The blonde-to-white haired girl took the cold glass bottle in her hand and brought the opening to her nose, sniffing the contents only to have her nose wrinkle a bit by the scent.

_"It smells like...Metal?"_

"See, Airi told you! It's icky juice!"

"Put it back, don't pick up things if you don't know what they are." Airi complied with Momoi's order and plugged the bottle back up before travelling back to the mini fridge and placing it back in its spot. The pale blonde girl dug around the appliance for a moment until she pulled out two juice boxes, showing them to the eldest Komori girl. "Airi found Cranberry juice! It's mommy's favorite!"

"That will do then." Airi closed the mini fridge's door and headed back to her seat next to Momoi, once she was comfortable enough she gave the box of juice to the elder and proceeded to direct her attention towards her own. The lilac-eyed seven-year-old shook the medium-sized box before poking the plastic straw through it and happily sipped at it. Usually, younger children would hate the stuff; however since Yui had bad anemia, Shiori would always make sure to keep plenty in stock for her. Since there was almost nothing to drink in the house besides water, milk, and tea, naturally all of the children obtained a taste for the tart fruit juice. Momoi struck the plastic straw through the small hole on the top of the box, promptly sucking the tart-tasting juice into her mouth as she tried to relax herself from her thoughts. There was nothing wrong as of right now, she was only going to talk to her 'grandfather' to obtain answers like a normal person. Suddenly, something struck Momoi through her head like a needle through cloth, her eyes widening and her head reaching a splitting pain for a few seconds until she heard voices that weren't her own nor the other two people in the limousine.

_"Oi, you haven't touched any of that." ~~~~_

_"O-Oh, I'm...Getting to it."_

_"You better finish that, it'll be a pain to have you pass out in school again."_

_"Okay..."_

_"Is there something on your mind, Pancake? You're acting weird."_

_"I-It's nothing, Ayato-kun...I'm just tired."_

_"See? This is what you get for letting those other guys feed off of you. You only belong to me and yet you're letting my brothers feed off of you like a common whore. Tch, it's almost as if you're tempting me."_

_"A-Ayato-kun, you know I can't help it when they're thirsty...And besides, most of the time it's you who feeds off me excessively-"_

_"Hah? Are you back-talking me, Pancake? You still haven't learned your place after this long?"_

_"N-No, I-I meant it's just that you have the...Tendency to...Drink too much...Out of me..."_

_"Oh, you're gonna regret saying that to me. If getting Yours Truly angry was your goal, then you've certainly won."_

_"W-Wait, please don't!"_

_"Shut up. Let me take your blood as punishment for irritating me."_

Momoi snapped out of it and felt chills run down her spine...That voice along with that arrogant-sounding man...Was her mother's voice. What just happened? Was that a flashback? A distant memory? Who was that man and what was he doing to her mother?! It was like he was trying to nitpick at something so he could just hurt her for the hell of it! The nerve of this audacious bastard! Also, 'Common Whore'? Yui was the complete opposite of that! Momoi has never seen her mother do anything sexually active for as long as she lived, and to top it all of....She was practically frightened by just accidentally bumping into someone! What gave this man the right to wrongfully call her something so indecent? And what the hell did he mean by taking Yui's blood?

And then it clicked.

How Karlheinz was able to get into the apartment so easily (remember, the door is always locked during business hours), the bottle in the refrigerator, and that...Moment? If Momoi pieced these new pieces of information with some older facts, such as the light scars on her mother's body, how afraid she seemed to be when it came to the topic of dating and sex, and how squeamish she seemed around visible blood.

Did her mother...Was she involved with

No, it was too early for assumptions, especially ones where the chance was highly preposterous. Momoi let out a discomforting sigh and straight in the car seat, trying to shake off the curiosity bubbling in her head and the wrongful feeling developing in her chest. Something about this wasn't making sense to her...Perhaps...

She should ask about it during the meeting.

* * *

Yui set down the cold glasses of soda on the table and gave a curt smile before leaving some customers alone, after that day off, she felt like a new woman! Yeah, her iron deficiency was still a problem during the day, but nonetheless a new woman! The pale blonde quickly walked over to the secluded area where her children were, watching over them go along with their usual antics of the day; the quadruplets were teasing the triplets, Yuuta was asleep with Hayato laying on top of him watching everyone else while Harue was trying to draw on the elder blondes face, Kousuke, Kana, Minato, and Kei formed their own little group and chatting about mundane kid things, Yui knew Reika and Adam were up in the apartment, Momoi was with Airi at the duck pond in the park, Justin was outside dealing with Melissa and Christina, and finally there was Kumiko, drawing by herself quietly. Yui’s interest piqued towards her daughter, she was almost never this quiet or isolated. The woman walked over to the strawberry blonde who was peacefully scribbling on pieces of paper and crayons sprawled out all over the table; softly, Yui called out to the nine-year-old to gain her attention.

“What are you drawing, Kumiko-chan?” The young girl looked up and gave a wolfish grin, “A dream I had, Momma.”

“A dream? What kind of dream?”

“Well...I wasn't really asleep since it was during the day...And my eyes were open! What do you call that, Momma?”

“I think the term is…’Daydream’.” Yui let out a giggle, Kumiko was like an energetic and mischievous puppy who never failed to make her happy. It reminded her of the days where _he_ treated her as an actual being rather than a walking food source...Then again, those were very rare dreams. The strawberry blonde nine-year-old dropped her crayon on the table and gathered all of the papers together so they were somewhat neat, then held them so she could present them and flip through the papers. “Listen up, Momma! This is how my daydream went!”

With a smile, Yui pulled up a chair next to Kumiko and told her she was excited to hear about it. Kumiko showed the first paper; it was a poorly drawn dark forest with Kumiko in the center of it.

“I was in this super dark forest! You or Nee-san weren't there, so I was scared at first! So I walked around to try and find my way out…” Kumiko took the paper and tossed it to the table to show off the second page. In the middle of the dark forest was light shining on a single tree with white blossoms. “Then I found this single tree! It was like God or something was directing me to this tree!”

“And then all of the blossoms fell, apples started growing in place! I got to have one and they were super yummy! Momma, you could of made a really yummy tart with them!”

“Oh wow, I wish I was there!” Yui chirped along to her daughter's storytelling. The golden eyed child then turned to the next page, revealing a massive black scribble looming over the drawing of a scared looking Kumiko. “When I bit into the apple, this weird looking guy appeared in front of me! I couldn't see what he really looked like, but he had this really deep voice! He then told me-”

Kumiko cleared her voice and tried to sound like an adult man, “ ‘You've always lived an easy life without knowing anything, when in the end you were the daughter of the wolf and little red riding hood.’ That's what he said before disappearing.”

Yui rose a brow as she kept quiet, allowing her golden eyed daughter tell her story.

“And then wolves appeared! They were surrounding me, but I tried to be brave. I was ready to hit them until one of them talked! It said ‘you and your sister are wolves among sheep, with the blood of the founders and nursed by Eve unwillingly.’ I didn’t know what they were talking about…” Yui's velvet-pink eyes went wide when she heard that sentence, staring at the image of wolves surrounding Kumiko. That's when she turned to the next page…

It was _him_...Standing in front of Kumiko.

“And there was this guy who looked a lot like me! He didn't do anything except just stood there...I thought he was a pirate! And then I woke up...Momma, do think this means anything?” Kumiko turned her head towards her mother's and tilted it innocently. The pale blonde woman gulped quietly and pulled herself away from falling into another breakdown, smiling nervously towards her daughter.

“I-I don't know...M-Maybe you watched something on TV like this?”

“Hmm...Maybe I did! I'll ask Nee-san when she gets back!” Yui nodded and excused herself to the employee backroom, crashing onto the couch and letting out a shaky breath...Why? Why were the coming back to her now? After all of these years of laying low...Yui felt something poking at her back and pulled it out...It was the invitation to Subaru's birthday ball. The velvet-pink eyed woman set it next to her and let her head fall onto the wall. She still had to answer Karlheinz...What should she do?

Let Hayato meet Subaru? And fall back into the world of vampires, the very same ones who caused her nightmares every night? 

Or don't go? Hiding Hayato away from the truth until he goes through puberty and finds out he's part vampire along with the others?

Hot tears ran down Yui's face as her old scars started to burn yet again, remembering their fangs pierce her skin and take her precious blood for their own...Their hurting touches...The pain.

_**It hurts** _

_**It hurts** _

_**It hurts** _

_**It hurts** _

_**It hurts** _

Yui sniffled and sobbed in silence as she tried to get over her past demons, stuck in this temporary limbo that felt like centuries. Her breath shortened as she felt her heart beat uncontrollably and her blood pressure started to rise. Yui truly was weak...Just like what they told her for all of those years. She cannot even make a simple choice. 

What should she do? 

* * *

 Airi held onto Momoi's black skirt as her lilac eyes wandered around the large gothic interior of the manor, clutching onto the material tightly while the blonde-to-white haired girl patted her head comfortingly. Airi looked up, “Onee-chan, it's cold in here...And scary looking.”

“It's just the style the owner likes, don't worry about it.” 

“Miss Komori, Karlheinz-sama is expecting you.” The whistling voice of an old man entered the lone main hall, immediately Momoi and Airi jumped at the sight of an aged butler who seemingly popped out of nowhere. The butler, who seemed unfazed, spoke politely. “This way, if you may.”

“R...Right.” Momoi dryly gulped, feeling the tension rise in the seven-year-old next to her, nevertheless followed the butler and ushered Airi to move along with her. The two girls walked a comfortable amount of distance behind the old man while their citrine and amethyst colored eyes wandered along the halls. Lavender walls, wooden panelling below the victorian-styled wallpaper with intricate patterns carved into the wood, the deep blue floors, the single chandelier handing in each different hall the three went through, the occasional small table with a medium-sized vase of roses arranged neatly, and an overall chill in the air that made Airi feel on edge as she walked alongside her older sister. With small fists bunching up the silky material of Momoi's skirt, Airi followed like a duckling with her white shoes clicking on the hard floor with each little step. After a few more moments of silent walking, the butler stopped and turned to face the twelve-year-old and bowed his head. "Karlheinz-sama is right through this door."

"Okay...Is there anywhere Airi can stay for the meantime?" The citrine-eyed girl inquired, feeling the small girl huddle closer to her legs out of rising fear, telling her that she didn't want to separate from her. The old man didn't spare the seven-year-old below him a single look before giving Momoi a quick and formal response. "Of course, there's a game room she can spend her time in. When you're finished, a maid can show you the way."

"I see, thank you." Momoi thanked, then knelled down to Airi's height. Her twin tails fell like a pale golden waterfall onto the ground until they turned white at the ends as her voice lured Airi to listen like a hummingbird attracted to a flower's nectar; comforting and sweetened so deliciously, "Airi...Can you be a big girl and follow the man to the game room? You'll wait in there until I'm done and then we'll leave."

"B-But Airi is scared...Airi doesn't wanna leave Onee-chan..."

"I am too...But you have items to protect you during troubling times. You have Bonnie to protect you from the scary monsters that want to pick on you...And you have mother's rosary on you, don't you?" Airi nodded, proceeding then to stick a hand down the neck of her dress to produce a rosary that was the size of her hand, made of pearl and pale pink rose quarts with a bold hot pink sapphire in the center. Momoi placed a hand on the piece of religious jewelry and calmly spoke. "With this, mother can always protect you...No matter what. As long as you have this, you won't be hurt...Okay?"

Airi nodded and brought the rosary close to her head, squeezing her lilac eyes shut as she gave off a silent prayer and then shoved the piece of jewelry back into the neck of her dress. Momoi slowly stood back up and waved Airi goodbye before taking a deep breath in and knocked on the door. "It's Komori Momoi."

"Ah yes, do come in." A deep voice called out, muffled by the thickness of the wooden door separating the two. The young girl silently prepared herself before opening the door to reveal a gothic-themed study. Various of dark-colored wooden furniture scattered the place, the walls were a deep shade of purple, the carpeted floor looked like it had a layer of charcoal brushed onto its surface, an old grandfather clock sat at the corner of the room ticking away while a vase of white roses rested on a nearby table, making a stark contrast to the rest of the items in the room. There, in the middle of the room, sitting at a dark-colored desk in front of a fireplace and had a couple moderate-sized stacks of papers in front of him, was Karlheinz in all of his glory. The white-haired male looked up with his golden cat-like eyes and gave off a smile. "I've been anxiously awaiting for you, my eldest granddaughter. Come and have a seat, I'll have a made fetch us some tea."

Momoi nodded silently as she made her way cautiously to the wood and wine-colored cushioned chair settled in front of Karlheinz's desk. Carefully, she sat down and crossed her legs, folding her hands in her lap as she tried to uphold a professional appearance towards this strange man in front of her. He snapped his gloved fingers and almost instantly a maid came into the study with a small cart, the nameless maid stopped at a distance away from the two and started to prepare cups of tea. 

"This is Silver Needle white tea, it is a premium quality tea and the most sought after in the white tea class. I purchased a couple of boxes while on a trip to Shanghai last year and it was a great investment, if I do say so myself. It has a fruity flavor and a sweet, nectar-like aroma that I believe everyone can fairly enjoy. My second son is rather fond of this tea, however he prefers the more strong and bitter flavors and aromas." The long haired man mused, his smile never leaving his face as the maid set down the tea cups in front of the two. Momoi carefully picked up the china and examined the golden steaming liquid; he was right, it smelled fruity and incredibly sweet...Perhaps this was a flower in tea form so humans could pretend to be like butterflies or hummingbirds. The blonde-to-white haired girl gently blew on the hot liquid before sipping on it, her tongue hit instantly with the sweet flavor; it was almost like a watered-down honey that wasn't too overbearing. Karlheinz then spoke to her, "I presume you like it?"

"Yes, it's very delicious..."

"I'm glad you like it. Now, I presume you want to get on with your business with me?" Karlheinz took a sip from his own teacup while shooing away the maid who bowed before dragging the cart back into the hall. Momoi's posture straightened as she nodded, "I hope you do not mind me asking you many questions, but I need you to answer all of them."

"Of course I don't mind, after all you're my granddaughter! Now, go ahead..."

"I'll start off with the first question: Just who are you? I don't mean to be rude, it's just...I don't know who you are exactly and yet you're claiming to be my grandfather."

"It's quite alright." The golden-eyed man chuckled, "I go by many names: Reinhart, Sakamaki Tougo, Karl...But you know me more specifically as Karlheinz. When I'm Sakamaki Tougo, I'm known all over Japan as a beloved politician and prominent philanthropist. When I'm Reinhart, I'm a kind-hearted doctor. I have a total of six biological sons that spawn from three different wives, they all died in unfortunate accidents. I adopted four more sons later on, however they live in a different house I provided them, and I have two distant cousin-in-laws I still like to consider as 'sons', even though they despise me. Most importantly, I have a strong connection with your mother. After all, she was supposed to legally become my daughter-in-law."

"My mother was supposed to marry one of your children?"  

"That is correct, your mother was sent to this very house to be married to one of my sons by her adoptive father. You can think of it as an arranged marriage, however she was allowed to choose whoever she wanted to marry. Though, she found out that the moment she got here...However, your mother was always bright and kind, no matter how much my brutish sons would put her down." Karl sighed at the thought while Momoi's gaze harden. If she could put two and two together...Then that means Yui's time here is somehow linked to her weakened mental health and most likely PTSD. But how? That is the real question.

"Then...How long did she stay here? And did she ever pick a husband?"

"I would assume...Two or Three Years at the minimum. She would sometimes transfer from here to the other house I mentioned earlier with my adoptive sons or the house with my two distant cousin-in-laws. As for your other question, No...She never picked anyone. Honestly, it kind of put a dent in my plan." Karl took another sip of his white tea and placed an elbow on the desk while resting his chin on it. 

"Plan?"

"To simply put it: the son who married your mother could finally put an end to me and take my place as his." Momoi rose a brow, that was certainly way to vague. Maybe it was too personal, perhaps she could go back to that question later. 

"Your sons...How did they acted towards her?"

"Well...At first, they weren't exactly gentlemen with your mother. They would push her around, call her names, hurt her to some degree, sometimes almost leave her for dead...Then they started to warm up to her, started seeing her as an equal being to them. Then one day, they all realized they were in love with Yui-san. Isn't that just adorable?" Karl mused with a smirk on his pale lips. Without thinking, Momoi stood up and her gaze harden on the older man's figure, her voice raised against him. "Those sons of yours...Did all of those atrocious things to my mother and you didn't even think to stop them?!"

"They soon learned their mistakes...After all, it was Yui-san's job to fix my troubling sons as her first job as a bride and then choose her husband. It became more complicated when they all fell in love with her...Then again, I am partly to blame. I wasn't the best example of a perfect father."

"Partly?! Then who did the rest of the damage?!"

"My now dead wives. Well, for my biological sons. My adoptive sons have pasts of their own when I only just helped them out of the poor excuse of an orphanage they were in...As for my cousin-in-laws...It's a more complicated story. I'll be glad to tell you what my incompetent wives did to my biological children if you're that curious." The smile didn't leave his face...And yet he was talking about such a sensitive topic. Does this man have any shame or remorse? Momoi's golden-colored gaze softened a bit as her tense posture relaxed a bit, allowing the smile on Karlheinz's lips grow more and more Cheshire-like. "My first wife wasn't willing to give me children, so I married my second wife and she had my eldest son. My first wife was jealous that I put all of my attention towards my second wife and then gave birth to triplets. Before that, my second wife gave birth to my second eldest son...However, I wasn't too interest with that accomplishment. My first and second wife were always in a competition against each other for my attention, it was quite amusing sometimes to watch them fight like two alley cats. However, this caused some trauma towards my children: My eldest got more attention than my second eldest, and thus created tension until my second eldest killed his mother. To be honest, I was quite proud of him for that moment."

Momoi's eyes widen at Karl's statement, however he just continued talking as if it was natural for all of this to happen.

"My first wife was not mother material, and this is not an understatement. She always placed pressure on the first-born triplet to always be the best and perfect at everything, and if he failed to meet with her expectations...He would go through severe punishments; such a drowning him in the lake. The second-born triplet was terribly neglected, the only think my first liked about him was his beautiful singing voice. She would make him sing until he would lose his voice and didn't have a single care in the world. She would even make him sing and watch while she had an affair with my brother, quite the promiscuous woman, isn't she? The second-born triplet would try absolutely everything to get her attention like tantrums and crying and the servants calmed him down by giving him candy and sweets, and thus that's why he thinks he can get anything he likes by throwing a fit. As for the youngest triplet, my first wife would have constant affairs with him...I believe you can put two and two together how that ended up. She honestly didn't care for her children as long as they got her what they want, including having affairs with other men and giving out her blood to my brother with them around. I honestly shouldn't of spent so much time trying to court her back then, but she did the job...She neglected and abused those children to the point they seemed broken beyond repair, then one day those triplets killed her... Now, onto my last son" Karlhein paused and took a sip from his teacup to wet his throat, clearing it before speaking while his granddaughter in front of him has now sat down and just absorbed the absurd words coming out of his mouth. 

"My last son despises me the most because I caused the most trauma towards his mother. You see, my third wife was also my cousin. Ah, don't worry...She willingly married me until she realized that I didn't love her and my only intention to marry her was to have an incest child, that's when she went mad. Now, she was the most tolerable out of my wives, so I provided her a room in a tower so she could live out the rest of her days...Locked in a cage. She would confuse my youngest for me a lot and beat him, call him names, and other such things. Then again, she was the only one out of my wives to truly love her son...When she wasn't having a psychotic episode. And then one day, she begged him to kill her, to end her misery. That is why my youngest despises me the most."

"Y-You're...You're a monster..." Momoi softly said after seeing that Karl was telling the truth the whole time. What kind of person would do that to their family?! He married multiple women even though it's illegal? How the hell did he get away with that?! And his sons...They hurt her mother because they were hurt by this very man! Karl only chuckled and sighed, "You sound like my sons...They started calling me that more often after that night."

"That night?"

"Yes, the night when you were conceived, my Momoi." Karl set the teacup down and fixed his posture in his leather office chair, "I had thrown together a nice little ball with Yui-san and your fathers, it's was during blood moon so it was the perfect time to...Pick up the pace? However, your mother ran off afterwards and we weren't able to locate her for some time...My sons recalled that night and immediately started calling me a monster, however they also blamed themselves thousands upon thousands of times. But alas, my plan worked because you're now standing in front of me."

"...Then...Who is my father?"

"No one here, your father is one of the two distance cousin-in-laws. Little Airi, on the other hand, can meet her father right now." Momoi snapped out of her daze and stood up once more, putting on a brave stance and a hardened expression. "I will not let my little sister meet such a monster! He doesn't deserve to meet his daughter after what he did to my mother!"

"Now, now...You cannot hide the truth forever; look at your mother for an example, your mother hid the truth from all of you for the past twelve years and here you are finding out about it. Then again...I supposed it would be a rather awkward to have a meeting with the man that raped your mother in order to have you." The smirk on the white-haired man's lips widen even more to the point where his eyes gave off a devilish glint. Momoi's eyes widen as she was baffled by what her grandfather just told her, stumbling back a few steps and her breath quickened.

_"R-Raped?!"_

"That's right, little peach. You and all of your siblings are children of rape...Including sweet little Airi." Karl snickered playfully, watching his granddaughter's hands ball up into fists as she yelled at him, "J-Just who do you and your sons think you are?! How dare you come back after so long and torture my mother mentally! What kind of sick freak are you that telling a child that their father raped their mother with a smile on your face?! Just who are you really, Karlheinz?!"

He was silent for a moment, trying not to laugh at the flustered and livid form of Momoi as she tried to act brave in front of him. With a sigh, he started to speak again.

"That highly depends on what you believe in."

"Believe in what?" Karl then flashed her a smile, showing off pearl-white fangs as his cat-like eyes glowed dangerously. It was like Momoi was staring at the face of evil itself when he said:

"Do you believe in vampires?"

* * *

Airi sat down at a table in the corner of the game room, the butler told her to call for him if she needed anything before literally disappearing in thin air. She didn't think much of it, the only thing on her mind at the moment was how can she pass the time while Momoi was talking to her 'someone'. The pale blonde unzipped her 'Rilu Rilu Fairilu' backpack and dumped the contents out on the wooden table, immediately going for her beloved stuffed rabbit and hugging it close to her chest. 

"Were you uncomfortable, Bonnie? Airi is sorry, you can stay out here with Airi while we wait for Onee-chan! Now" Her lilac-colored eyes scanned over the now cluttered wooden table, picking up Bonnie so she could 'see' and pick along with her, "Should we color a picture? Airi brought her coloring book! But we can also draw a picture for Onee-chan and Mommy! Or...Should we continue our scrapbooking? Airi wasn't able to attend last week's scrapbooking meeting at the church because Mommy got sick and we couldn't go...And Airi isn't hungry yet, so we can put the animal crackers to the side for now...What do you think, Bonnie?" 

Airi placed the stuffed rabbit's mouth to her ear, as if the inanimate object was actually talking to her and then nodded, a cute smile appeared on her face. 

"Okay! We'll scrapbook! Miss Hanamura will be proud that Airi caught up since she couldn't attend!" Airi carefully placed her precious rabbit next to her while she placed the other items back into her backpack until it was only a clear tub filled with supplies and a scrapbook in a purple-colored binder, on the front had 'My Family' scribbled on as legible a seven-year-old could make. She opened the scrapbook to the last place she left off, which was Justin's birthday party in October, and opened the clear tub of supplies before she got to work. She carefully cut out pieces of patterned paper and glued them behind the actual photos of the event, then peeled the paper behind some stickers and spaced them on the page before actually sticking them on the colored paper. Airi stuck golden star stickers around a picture of Justin blowing out the candles and placed a pumpkin sticker and a bat stick on the edges of a picture of Melissa and Christina giving Justin a headache even on his birthday. It was pretty funny, they dunked his head in the birthday cake and got chased around by Harue. It was a good think Yui had a spare birthday cake! It was like she knew something like this would happen. Airi also remembered some other funny things; like how Chiaki tripped on her shoelaces while giving Justin her gift to him and the box fell out of her hands, revealing that her gift was a giant green frog she found with Asahi and Hanami when they went to the river near the diner. Or how Hayato cried because he literally thought Fumuki pulled off his nose when she did a 'got your nose' trick, or when Yuuta was playing hide and seek with the quadruplets and the triplets and the couldn't find him, then they found him an hour later asleep in the closet. And there was also when Kei and Minato gave a forced makeover on Reika with their mother's products while Kana and Kousuke held her down. It was a fun day...It made Airi wish that she could have fun days with her family like that every day, then again she had to consider school and her mother's weaken health. Airi could count all of the times the school children would make fun of her because during any event where parents could come, Yui would always come in a wheelchair because of how hard she worked that day...The other times are when the children would make fun of the fact Airi didn't have a present father or that she looked like none of her other siblings. Actually, she could recall some of the parents talk about her mother in hushed whispers:

**_"That woman...Did she really give birth to those children?"_ **

**_"They look nothing like each other..."_ **

**_"A modern-day harlot."_ **

**_"Where are all of the fathers of those children?"_ **

**_"Probably ran off after paying her."_ **

**_"I feel bad for them, they have to live with a woman like that..."_ **

**_"I have a feeling she won't live after thirty-five..."_ **

**_"Don't assume she's a harlot! You don't know what she goes through! Look, she suspended in a wheelchair when she isn't working...And she has all of those children to look after."_ **

**_"I would of put most of them up for adoption at that point."_ **

**_"Maybe she had all of those children to get the government's favor."_ **

**_"What a pitiful woman..."_ **

Airi never knew what they were talking about...Maybe she'll find out one day...

The seven-year-old was more focused on her scrapbook that she didn't hear anyone come in...In fact, she was almost certain the door didn't open! Nevertheless, a new voice entered the scene and made her jump in the cushioned seat out of surprise. 

"Ara~What do we have here? A child?" Airi immediately squeezed Bonnie out of defence , she looked up to see an older man with spicy ginger red hair and slanted emerald green eyes that gave off the illusion that he had cat-like slits for pupils by the pool tables. The little girl squeezed Bonnie tighter against her chest while she watched with careful eyes while the stranger only chuckled at her look and proceeded to balance a pool stick against a white ball, "You don't need to worry about me being someone weird. I won't hurt you...Though, I am curious why a little girl like you is in my home."

"M...My Onee-chan is here to talk with someone...A-And Airi is waiting for her!"

"Ah, I see. Well...Since you're by yourself, how about I stay with you, Airi-chan?" 

"...Do as you like." The strange man gave off a closed-eye smile before hitting the white ball with the pool cue, it rolling off and hitting the first ball it came into contact, allowing the others to spread out and for a few to land into the corner pockets. Airi still kept her distance with the man and just watched him from a comfortable distance, her lilac eyes squinting as she observed him playing pool by himself...For some reason, he looked really familiar. 

"Am I really that handsome? You keep staring at me." A red flush appears on the young girl's fair cheeks as she looked the other way, obtaining an amused grin from the older man as he hit the white ball against another pool ball. He suddenly straightened his posture and rested the pool cue on his shoulders as he walked over to Airi, "I told you not to worry about me, didn't I? I'm not one of those perverts who kidnap children on the street, promising you candy. Hmm...Allow me to introduce myself: I'm Sakamaki Laito, it's nice to meet you Airi-chan~" 

Laito flashed her a flirty wink, she responded by giving a curt nod before setting Bonnie in her lap gently, still keeping in mind the rosary wrapped around her neck. Airi placed a hand on the cloth-covered rosary and took a silent deep breath in before looking back up at Laito, who was currently occupied with rubbing blue chalk on the tip of the pool cue. With a huff, she looked away; "Airi will let you stay with her for the meantime...But only when Onee-chan comes back!"

"Okay, okay~ Whatever you say, Airi-chan~"

Time started to tick forward from there on; Laito continued his little one-player game of pool while responding to all of the questions and statements Airi threw at him with ease. Eventually, Airi started to warm up to the older man and even started getting giggly with him, allowing him to sit with her at the table when he was finished with his game. They talked about random such things; such as siblings, sweets, music, and etc. It was a generally happy mood, until Airi asked this question:

"Ne, Sakamaki-san?"

"I told you that you can just call me Laito, it sounds like I'm an old man if you call me that!"

"Alright...Laito-san, can Airi ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?" Laito took another animal cracker (that Airi graciously allowed to share with him) and snapped it in half with his mouth, chewing on the slightly sweet biscuit. Airi looks down at her scrapbook that was still on Justin's birthday page and continued on with her question. "You're a grownup, so I think you know this word...I don't know it..."

"Well, I'll try my best to answer it."

"What's a 'harlot'?" With that question alone, Laito almost choked on the rest of the animal cracker. When he was able to get it down his throat, he sighed and scratched the side of his ginger red hair, "Well...It's a rather grownup word...You shouldn't be learning about it...Where did you hear it?"

"At school...When the other children's parents are around, they call Mommy a harlot...Airi doesn't know what that means. Do you know what it means, Laito-san?"

"It's...A really mean word. Why do they call your Mommy a harlot?" Laito's happy tone died down, thinking about the little decency an adult had when they call someone a harlot and let children hear it. Airi pulled the scrapbook towards her along with the clear container, digging through it while she talked. "They say it when they see Mommy with Airi and all of her siblings...They know Airi doesn't have a Daddy and my siblings don't have one either...Now that Airi knows it's a mean word...Airi wishes she had a Daddy. So that all of the adults wouldn't call Mommy mean names, so that the other kids won't made fun of Airi, and if Airi had a Daddy...Daddy could protect Mommy because she gets sick easily, sometimes she has to be in a wheelchair and others would make fun of Mommy for that...Airi doesn't like it." 

"...I'm...Sorry, Airi-chan."

"No, it's fine. Airi got used to living without a Daddy...Airi just wishes she had one..." Laito sighed, people were awful these days. "Just...Don't use that word. When you're older, you can learn what it really means."

"Okay..." Airi closed her scrapbook and then held it out to the emerald-eyed man, a smile on her face as if that whole conversation didn't exist. "Ne, Laito-san. Do you wanna see Airi's family? Airi has been working on this scrapbook for a REALLY long time! So can you look at it first and make sure it looks nice?"

"Hmm, I don't see why not." Laito hummed before taking the binder from the seven-year-old girl, he gazed at the cover first before opening it to the first page, his forest eyes meeting with calm ocean blue ones and a head of shaggy blonde hair. Airi sat closer to the man and started to point out some things, "That's Airi's eldest brother, Yuuta. All he does is sleep all day and listen to classical piano...Honestly, it'd do him so good if he didn't sleep in so much...But Mommy doesn't mind it, she told me that he's been sleepy his whole life."

 _"Heh, sounds like Shuu without the trauma."_ He gazed at some of the available photos; one looked like a school photo, one of him sleeping, one of him from a while ago sitting at a piano, and one of him smiling while holding an orange tabby cat. There were various stickers of music notes, clouds, and little sleeping emotes from messaging app while some construction paper patterned with either music notes or Z's settled as the background for the said pictures. Laito turned to the next page to see two girls with different respective pages; one girl had long light blonde hair that faded into white and golden cat-like eyes while the other had curly raven colored hair and velvet-pink eyes framed by rectangular glasses.

"That's Momoi, she's the Onee-chan Airi came with! She's really cool and mysterious, she's slipped by the others many times to do whatever she wants! Airi wants to be like Onee-chan! And the girl next to Onee-chan is Reika, she's really smart. She has every school award and gets money for how smart she is! She always uses it on rent through, even though she doesn't has too...Reika-Onee-chan really is amazing..." Laito only hummed as he observed the two pages, Momoi's side was decorated with stars and little cat stickers with matching paper while Reika has paper mimicking writing on a book while her stickers were of books or glasses emotes. The two continued to flip through the scrapbook, covering over each sibling and what their personalities were like just from Airi's descriptions of them. Then he came across two people...

With eyes the same as his.

"Ah! That's who you remind me of! You look a lot like Kei-chan and Minato-chan! Airi should of gotten it at first glance! The three of you look just like cats and you're always teasing others! They're the twins who keep themselves in their own little world that Mommy is only allowed to come in, sure they're nice to Airi...But no one as really seen them weak, unlike Mommy. They're strong and bold! Airi hopes they stay like that forever! Though...They should really let people in, they can't keep up with the act for that long." Laito said nothing, his finger only dragged along the pictures of the twins together smiling, their school photos, teasing others, and seemed inseparable.

_"That's odd...I've never met them and yet...I feel attached to them..."_

Shaking off the weird feeling of comfort and adoration towards the children, Laito went along and viewed the rest of the siblings with Airi. When they finished with the quadruplets, Airi became jumpy in her seat and held the next page within her small pale fingers. "This is the finale of our family! The rest are moments in the past! Are you ready Laito-san?"

"Well, since you're leading on with so much suspense, I guess I'm ready!" The ginger red-haired man chuckled, thinking about how cute this little girl in front of him was. Children were so precious to him, even though it didn't seem like that to him in the past. He probably got a new found adoration for them when he 'changed'...Well, not completely changed, but just enough to where he didn't act like the Laito in the past. That version of him hurt way too many people for his liking...

"Alright, Laito-san! Get ready to meet...Mommy!" Airi flipped the page to reveal a soft and simple pink background, heart and rabbit stickers surrounded the pages, and Laito's emerald eyes widen at the sight of the pictures. 

Soft blonde hair that came down to her shoulders in delicate curls.

Fair skin that could rival with any china doll.

Velvet-pink eyes that blossomed like evening roses, greeting the moon beautifully.

Dainty limbs that could break from just upon one single touch.

And a smile so soft and so familiar, his head started to hurt at just the sight.

It was Yui...His first love, the one who made him realize that love was beautiful...

The woman he broke. 

"This is Mommy, she's the most beautiful person in the whole world! She's kind to everyone, including rude customers! When Airi has nightmares and wakes up crying, Mommy would come to me with hot milk and sing me my most favorite song! I love Mommy a whole lot! But...I feel bad for Mommy...She's so sick, that sometimes she has to stay in bed for a while...The doctor said something about her blood is wrong and she always has to rest, and yet she works so hard for Airi and her siblings. Mommy is a really good person! Airi knows you'll like her when you meet her!" Airi spoke with sincerity, feeling the rosary hidden underneath her clothing while thinking of the warmth of her mother. Laito was dead silent, staring at the images of the smiling girl he once knew and broke...His head started to pound and his hands started to shake lightly, all of those pent up feelings begged him to release them.

"It makes Airi wonder why Daddy isn't there with Mommy...Would he appear...If he saw how lonely Mommy was?" The lilac eyed girl sighed, turning her attention towards the older man next to her. She saw his widen eyes and frozen look of terror, making her frown. "Laito-san, is everything okay?"

"Y-Yeah...It's...I..."

"Are you upset? Do you feel like you're gonna cry?...I know what to do!" The pale blonde proceeded to dig into the neck of her dress, she then winked at Laito. "Airi doesn't let just anyone have this...But since you're Airi's friend, she'll let you hold this! It's her comfort item!" 

Airi took out the rosary and unwrapped it around her neck, placing the holy piece of jewelry into his cold palm and then held his hand with her two smaller ones. 

"Mommy always sings me this song and it calms me down...Let me calm you down now!" She giggled, getting no response from the man who felt like he was going to blow up from seeing the familiar rosary. The little girl cleared her voice before taking a deep breath in and out, allowing a beautiful melody to flow out of her lips.

_"Kurutta sairensu ni hisonda_

_kuro no kureidoru kashin ni yurete_

_“moshi, owari ga aru nara, oshiete hoshii” muku na hitomi ni kotaeru imi wa naku"_

Tears fell onto the photographs of Yui, Laito's grip on the rosary tighten as he silently wept.

After so long, he could find her...

But there was no way she would forgive him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Momoi now knows about the truth of her mother's past and Laito found out about Yui and her children, what will happen next?


	5. Gibbous Moon

Yui collected her tip from her last table and started to wipe it down, looking up she sighed as she saw the pouring rain. The last time she looked, which was an hour ago, it was still pouring outside. Momoi and Airi have been gone for a while now and it's starting to worry her, Yui brushed off the worry bubbling inside of her an hour ago because Takeru told her that it was natural kids wanted to stay out late and maybe play in the rain some more. Besides, Airi had Momoi by her side, so there was nothing really to worry about...Right? It was only then Yui was swamped with lunch rush to distract her from her thoughts, but now that it was barely thriving with people in the diner, Yui started to worry again. Momoi and Airi have been gone for hours now and it was still pouring rain outside, maybe they were stuck somewhere and couldn't move because of how much rain was preventing them to do so. 

"The typhoon will be starting from the southern tip of Japan and slowly go across the country, causing strong winds and heavy rain all over Japan for the rest of the week until the first half of next week. Please take precautions to keep your family dry and safe during the meantime, and please do not drive out in this sort of weather if you do not find it safe to do so." The weather girl on the TV said blandly, gesturing to the map behind her that was most likely a green screen on her side. An old man clicked his tongue before taking a sip of his coffee, "It's not even typhoon season. If this covers the rest of Japan for the rest of the week and the following one after, the whole country is going to be in a famine!"

Worry boiled in Yui to the point where she left the damp rag on the table she was cleaning and immediately headed upstairs for the apartment, after a few moments she came back down wearing a raincoat, rain boots and held a pastel pink umbrella in her hands. Misa looked up from her magazine and blinked her brown eyes questioningly, "Where ya going, Yui-chan?"

"I'm going to find Momoi and Airi." That statement alone made the dark-haired woman choke on her spit and immediately dropped her magazine onto the counter, "Are you crazy?! It's pouring like crazy out there and you know what happens if you stay out in the rain for too long!"

"I know, but they're my children! It's a mother duty to always protect her children no matter the situation!"

"Yui-chan, you're going to end up in the hospital again if you're not careful!"

"Misa-chan, you'd understand how I feel if it was Yamato-kun out there!" Yui blurted out, making the dark-haired woman freeze up. The pale blonde clasp her hand over her mouth with a gasp, "I-I didn't mean to"

"No...No. You're right...I would be searching for Yamato till the moment I drop." Misa sighed with a sad smile, she looked up at the younger woman with a defeated expression. "At least...Take Tomohisa-kun with you, he'll be able to carry you if needed."

Mazuna Tomohisa, the young storage worker who was pretty much Takeru's right-hand man. He always had a goofy smile on his face and knew how to cheer up anyone with his humor and overall happiness, yet he was a reliable young man who knew when to take responsibility. Embarrassingly enough, he has carried Yui to the hospital plenty of times when she passed out from exhaustion to sickness, blood-loss, and other such problems Yui's body had in store for her at the moment. She remembered the first time she had to go to the hospital and Misa told her that Tomohisa dropped everything just to bridal carry her to the local hospital, staying by her side every moment of the way until she woke up teary-eyed and hugging her (the nurse had to drag him away because she was fragile at the moment). It still made Yui laugh every time he was worried about her, it felt nice to be worried over...And Tomohisa was such a sweet twenty-five-year-old, god only knew why he was always hanging around an old woman like her. At least he was really good with kids! He's usually the last minute backup-babysitter because Yuuta always fell asleep while watching everyone and Yui was grateful for how kind Tomohisa was. Misa disappeared into the employee's break room and returned with a rushed Tomohisa struggling to get his coat on.

"Where do you want to go first, Komori-san?! The toy store? The recreational center? The arcade? They're all nearby the park, so we should head there if they're not in the park!" 

"Thank you so much, Tomohisa-kun. You didn't have to accept." Yui gave the silver-haired a soft smile, resulting in a light rose to dust onto his cheeks like makeup as he laughed nervously, "It's no big deal! I-I'm kinda attached to your kids as well, so it's only natural I'd help you look for them!" 

With that, the two stepped out of the diner and started running through the pelting rain. Tomohisa ran ahead of Yui, who was currently shielding herself from the rain with her umbrella, as their feet splashed in the cold water forming puddles on the ground. When they made it to the park, they started to call out for the two girls as they searched every single seemingly dry place in the park. Anxiety started to tower in Yui's body as she frantically called out for Momoi and Airi, immediately thinking of the worse possible scenario to happen to her precious daughters: What if they got lost trying to get home? What if they were kidnapped? What if _he_ got his hands on them?! The pale blonde clutched her chest while trying her best to calm herself before having a panic attack over assumptions, Momoi was a smart girl and she was with Airi, so she shouldn't have gotten into too much trouble...Right? Yui and Tomohisa gave up their search in the park when there was no trace of either girl, making their next frantic trip down to the shops and buildings near the park which the girls could have taken shelter in. 

The owner of the toy store, Mr. Yatsuhiro, told the two that he hasn't seen either Momoi or Airi come in; telling them that if they would have come in, Airi would have been bombarding him with questions about the new collection of dolls he had. Ms. Yokomei, the owner of the recreational center, told Yui and Tomohisa that many strangers were coming in and out to take shelter from the typhoon, so it would of been difficult to see any of them while tending to actual paying customers. The twin brother owners of the arcade, Haito and Yuu, gave the frantic diner workers the last bit of bad news, saying that today was a slow day and they would have noticed if they walked in. Yui clutched the chest fabric of her jacket and shut her velvet-pink eyes to try and calm herself down from the roaring worry surging through her, Tomohisa caught glimpse of this and gave the older woman a reassuring smile before placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, don't stress yourself out by worrying so much, Komori-san. We're going to find them, they're probably just taking shelter somewhere when they tried to walk home. We can go and ask other shops on the way back to the diner, it's going to be alright." The silver-haired man softly comforted, making Yui glance up with the upset look on her face slowly driving away from her mind. "Tomohisa-kun."

"C'mon, let's go and find them together!" Tomohisa slowly took Yui's hand and guided her out of the arcade, ignoring what the Watame brothers had to say about the little gesture. The older woman and the younger man stepped out of the warm fluorescent glowing arcade and back out into the typhoon's cold rain. On the route back to the diner, Yui eventually let go of Tomohisa's hand and started to go into different establishments herself, looking around and asking the owners if they had seen any of her two daughters. 'No' became the main answer from all of the owners on the block, adding to the quicken pace of the pale blonde woman who desperately popped in and out of every building she could find. She didn't even realize she abandoned her umbrella along with Tomohisa as she carelessly allowed her body and hair to get soaked. Yui didn't care about herself at the moment, her sweet little Airi and her lovely Momoi were missing and she couldn't rest until she knew there were safe and in her arms. Her feet splashed through the puddles on the sidewalk while she ran, a memory started to play in her head:

_"Woman."_

_"Y-Yes, Carla-san?"_

_"Tell me, what was it like? Your life before being handed to those Sakamaki vermin." Carla sliced into the piece of ham with his silverware, casually placing the piece of meat into his mouth. Yui dryly gulped at Carla's attempt at dinner conversation, Shin wasn't going to be home for the next three days, so the dinner table only consisted of Yui and Carla. The pale blonde teen reached for her drink and cupped it in her hands, staring down at her reflection on the surface. "I...Didn't know you were interested in my past."_

_"Don't make this difficult, or I'll have to schedule in another cleansing." Carla half-way threatened, still making Yui jump a bit at the tone of his voice and nervously laughed. "A-Ah haha...I lived in a church with my father, well my adoptive father. He was a really kind and gentle man who always wanted the best for me no matter what...So for a while, I questioned why he sent me to the Sakamaki Manor."_

_"Was?" Carla placed his fork down as he listened to the human girl who nodded with a sad smile on her face, "He tried to kill me when he couldn't take me back home, claiming I was corrupted and possessed by a demon, that I shouldn't live in the world. I really hurt me back then, because he was my only father in the whole world. I don't know what happened to my actual parents, but I still loved Father very much. I don't blame him really...After what I've become accustomed to."_

_Yui took a sip of her water, trying to quench her dry throat and drowning the emotions she kept hidden. She didn't want to give Carla too many details, like how for a week after that she went into a depressive and unreactive state after being rejected and tossed aside by the man she looked up to as a father. She didn't want him to know about how she still had nightmares of her Father trying to kill her, after everything they went through as father and daughter; or how she went down a spiraling hole with too many negative thoughts about that night, along with the Sakamaki's usual degrading, that fueled her unconscious will and made her hurt herself. Currently, the only one who knew about that is Subaru and he (surprisingly) hasn't told any of the others about it, although she found it odd when he would graze his lips against the old scars when he fed off of her. Yui felt Carla's intense golden stare on her as she directed her velvet-pink ones to anywhere else besides the Ancestor in front of her. A few moments passed before he spoke to her:_

_"Was that man considered your only family?"_

_"Yes. Father grew up as an only child, his parents passed away before I was born, and all of his relatives were either dead or lived too far away to visit. I didn't really mind it though, at the time I only needed Father to be happy."_

_"Have you ever...Considered starting a family?" Yui eyes widen as she shifted her gaze over to Carla to see if he was kidding, only to see his usual serious expression, of course, he never joked around. She stayed quiet for a bit, thinking over what to say before carefully speaking, "I've always had...I was like any normal little girl, I wanted to have a husband and have a child of my own. I'd always play house with the other girls who came for Sunday mass, immediately taking the first baby doll I saw and declaring myself to be the mother. I still remember what I would name my child if I had a girl."_

_"And what would that be?"_

_Happily, Yui smiled softly towards Carla as she stared at him with her warm eyes, remembering her past, "Momoi, with the characters for 'peach' and 'vividness'."_

Yui ran through the town in the pouring rain, going to each establishment and asking for where her daughters were wile leaving Tomohisa to eat her dust. Eventually, she was at the front of the diner without even realizing it. Yui huffed heavily as she felt her curly pale blonde hair sticking to her face, her muscles were sore, her body was cold, and her throat was stinging from yelling out for Momoi and Airi. Tears were threatening to fall from her eyes as her heavy breathing formed small puffs of white clouds, her precious daughters were nowhere to be found. Where could they be? Did something happen to them? Did they get kidnapped? Are they cold? Are they sick? Hungry? Tired? Scared? Were they hurt?! All of the worrisome thoughts rushed through Yui's head as she soon felt hot tears run down her pale face, knees buckling and almost about to collapse under her weight until Tomohisa rushed up towards her and grabbed her shoulders from behind.

"Don't just stand here in the pouring rain, you're going to get sick again!" 

"...I couldn't find them..."

"Komori-san?" Yui turned to the silver-haired boy and started crying, "I-I can't find them anywhere! They weren't in any of the buildings! O-Oh god, what should I do?! Where are my poor babies?! They must be so scared, tired, and cold! I-I shouldn't of let them go to the park, I-I'm such a horrible mother!" 

Tomohisa released Yui's shoulders and gave her a back hug, his warm embrace and strong arms wrapping around her like a protective blanket as he started to comfort the older woman. His blue eyes closed as he called to her in a calming voice, "Shhh, don't cry Komori-san. You're not a horrible mother, you didn't even know the typhoon would start today. None of this was your fault, okay? Besides, Airi has Momoi with her and she's a smart girl. I'm sure they won't get into any troublesome situation, and if they do she'll find a way out of it. We'll go look for them again when the rain clears up, okay?"

Yui didn't say anything, only sniffling and letting her tears fall down her face while Tomohisa comforted her gently. Eventually, Yui calmed down enough to where she could go inside the dinner. The pair were sopping wet as they entered, the familiar chime of the small bell above the door run. Currently, no one was at the counter and there were no other customers in sight, they all probably went home because of the typhoon. Yuuta was the only person in the dinner at the moment, sleeping on one of the waiting benches when he turned over and looked up with sleepy blue eyes. The sight of his mother sopping wet immediately woke him up as he sat up. 

"Mom? How long have you been wet? You know you get sick easily."

"...I was trying to find your sisters...But I couldn't find them..." 

"We can look for them later, just hurry up and get dry." Yuuta got up and headed for the kitchen, coming back with a handful of towels and setting them down on the table. He ushered Yui to come over and sit at the table, which she complied and started to dry her wet hair while Tomohisa was tossed a towel to dry himself off. Yui looked down at her lap, folding her pale and nimble fingers together while her eldest son dried her off to the best of his ability. Despite his lazy demeanor and careless attitude, the only thing that could actually get him up and moving if it involved Yui or any of his siblings (even though it looked like he didn't care about them). Yuuta was scolding his mother, telling her that she could get sick again and she was still trying to pay off the last hospital bill, getting sick again would mean the debt would increase and she would stress herself over it until she collapsed and go through the cycle again and again. It was always cute hearing Yuuta worry over someone, it truly brought a smile on Yui's face.

"Besides, Momoi will magically appear here again after an hour or something. You don't need to worry about them, you'll get a fever again if you do."

"Sorry, Yuuta...You're a good son, taking care of his reckless mother." Yui laughed, earning an eye roll from the twelve-year-old. While Yuuta continued to dry off Yui to the best of his ability, the phone rang. Tomohisa dropped the towel on the table and ran over to the counter, yelling 'I'll get it!'. He answered the phone with a friendly tone and listened to the other side of the line, then looked over at Yui and Yuuta. "It's for Komori-san."

Yui got up and got behind the counter, taking the phone out of Tomohisa's hand and placing it against her ear. 

"Hello, this is Komori Yui. How may I help you?"

 _"It's been a while, how are you?"_ Her velvet-pink eyes widen at the sound of the familiar deep voice, the hair on her neck stood straight as she immediately tensed and clutched on the wet material of her raincoat out of fear, "K-Karlheinz-san..."

_"Don't sound so afraid, my daughter-in-law. I assume you're busy at the moment, so I would like to keep my statement short."_

"Go on..." Yui cleared her voice, trying her best not to sound like she feared the man, which was the exact opposite. Karlheinz chuckled a bit before speaking, _"Due to all of this rain, I'm afraid your daughters cannot go home...Unless you want them to be stuck in the mud for a while. They'll stay with me until the rain clears up and when you're available to pick them up."_

Yui almost dropped the phone as she froze at the statement, quietly she responded:

"W-What?"

_"Your daughters, Momoi and Airi, are with me at the moment. They came over to the manor earlier today because your eldest wanted to interview me about...Certain topics you and I know very well on. Unfortunately, all of this rain is currently making them temporary guests at my home. You can relax, I assure you that I will take very good care of my granddaughters. You can come and pick them up whenever the rain stops and you have the time to."_

"D-Do they know?!" Yui shouted into the phone nervously, earning stares from Tomohisa and Yuuta. 

 _"I do not believe my sons have met them yet, then again I cannot control what happens in the house when I'm not looking. Like I said before, I assure you that nothing will happen to them. I'm not holding them hostage or anything, I'm not that kind of man...At least not anymore."_ Karlheinz chuckled at his own sense of humor before finishing, _"I hope you soon and to get a response about your invitation."_

Yui couldn't believe what was coming out of this man's mouth. Of course, the universe just had to hate her and put her daughters in the middle of a very complicated situation! Just the very thought of the Sakamaki brothers finding them, or even finding out Kanato is Airi's father could make her go into cardiac arrest. Swallowing her fears one last time before Karlheinz hung up, Yui spoke into the phone quietly. 

"Wait."

_"Hm?"_

"...I'll go...To the ball with Hayato. Only because I need to pick up Momoi and Airi."

 _"Splendid! I say it's a win-win situation for the both of us, is it not? I'll send over a tailor to measure you and your son and they should have the dress and suit to you before the party, alright? I hope to see you soon, my lovely daughter-in-law."_ Yui's stomach churned and wanted to vomit at the sickly-sweet voice Karlheinz gave her, she knew all too well that it was only his front to cover his true sadistic personality.

But the apple doesn't fall from the tree, does it?

Yui hung up the phone and stared at the floor below her, the black and white checkered pattern slowly becoming blurred as her hands shakingly rose up to her face. She covered her face and started to shake violently, however, tears weren't falling down this time. She wasted too many precious tears on those vampires, it wasn't going to happen again. No, what happened in the past definitely wasn't going to happen again! Yui wasn't going to curl up in a little ball and cry after all of her feedings, she was going to be the one to show that she moved on from them! They hurt her once, they weren't going to do it again! 

She'll show them that she wasn't the weak little girl she used to be, even if it killed her.

* * *

 "We're staying the night, Grandpa?" 

"That's right, well it's more like you're staying until the rain clears up. Your Mommy can't get you when it's raining this heavily, so when the rain clears up she'll pick you up." 

"Eh?! But Airi didn't bring jammies! Or extra clothes!" The blonde seven-year-old exclaimed worriedly, clutching onto her precious stuffed rabbit tightly. Karlheinz chuckled at the little girl and patted her head gently, "Don't worry, I'll have tailors make you and your sister clothing for the time being. You're guest in my home, after all."

"Okay..."

"Now go wash up, it's almost dinner time." Airi nodded in response and skipped off from the older man, heading down the hall to the guestroom. Airi carefully opened the door and shut it behind her when she saw Momoi pacing in a circle. "Onee-chan?"

"That's absolutely ridiculous, there's no way that's even remotely possible! That man just likes seeing me freaked out, that's why he said it! There's no way he was serious about being a"

"Onee-chan!" Airi shouted, snapping Momoi out of her train of thought. The pale blonde cleared her voice and crossed her arms, retaining her usual cool demeanor. "Yes?"

"Grandpa said to wash up before dinner!" Momoi visibly tensed at Airi's words. However, she refrained from voicing her opinions towards her younger sister. Instead, she swallowed up her words and nodded. Airi happily skipped to the bathroom in the guest room, pulling up a spare chair to the sink and climbing up so she could reach the porcelain sink. Momoi went back to muttering and pacing about until Airi called out for her once again:

"Onee-chan, Airi has good news! We don't need to worry about having no jammies or no clothes at all!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Grandpa is getting a tailor for us so we can have clothes! He said that it's important for guests to have their necessities while staying with someone!" Airi hummed as she soaked her small hands in warm water, pumping a large amount of rose-scented liquid soap onto her hands and rubbing them together. The twelve-year-old girl stopped and looked over at the seven-year-old, slowing making her way to the open bathroom door. "What?... Why is he doing all of that?"

"Grandpa didn't tell Onee-chan? We're staying here until the rain goes bye-bye, and then Mommy can come to pick us up! He told Airi this just a few minutes ago!"

"I see..." Momoi sighed as she balled her hand into a fist, everything was going just great for her. Their mother must be worried sick right now, they were trapped in this mansion until the rain cleared up, and that Karlheinz straight-up told Momoi that he and all of his sons were _vampires_. The made-up creatures who feasted on innocent people's blood, only came out at nighttime, and were ridiculously overpowered. Of all the lies you could tell to Momoi, Karlheinz had to tell her the most ridulous one and show off pointed fangs (that are probably just a modification). Vampires don't exist, it just wasn't possible! If Karlheinz was telling the truth, then she and all of her siblings would be vampire-human hybrids! Airi dried off her hands with the pale pink towel hanging by the sink and hopped off the chair, pushing it back to its original place. The lilac-eyed little girl skipped over to her older sister and smiled brightly at her. "Airi wonders what Grandpa is gonna serve for dinner! Is there going to be dessert? Airi wants a really big and fancy parfait! It has to be strawberry flavored! Maybe Grandpa can give Onee-chan coffee cake! She loves coffee cake lots!"

Airi really was too young for this. 

After Momoi washed up, she took Airi by the hand and guided her out of the room. When she closed the door behind them, the old butler from earlier appeared in front of them, making the two girls jump back in surprise. The butler only bowed his head towards the two respectfully as he spoke monotonously:

"Lady Momoi and Lady Airi, Karlheinz-sama is expecting you two in the dining room. Allow me to show you the way." The two girls only nodded in response before letting the old man walk ahead of them (at a comfortable distance). The pale blonde girls silently walked behind the old butler while holding hands, Momoi's grip was tight and secure. Airi looked up at her older sister and tilted her head. "Onee-chan? Is there something wrong?"

Momoi didn't reply. Airi understood the situation and squeezed her hand in return. 

"It's okay, Airi is here with Onee-chan. So nothing will happen! It's only Grandpa and he won't hurt us!"

 _We don't know that yet..._  "Alright...Thank you, Airi."

 "You're welcome, Onee-chan!" Airi grinned cutely. The two continued to walk hand-in-hand down the gothic corridors and down the grand staircase behind the butler. After a couple of minutes (and Airi complaining that the mansion was too big), the two were guided into an equally gothic-looking dining room. The table was set with various of fine china, silverware, and crystal cups. The chandelier above drew a beautiful light into the room that made a classy and sophisticated atmosphere, it almost looked too fancy for Momoi and Airi to be uncomfortable (them mainly used to eating in the diner or somewhere in their crowded kitchen). Karlheinz looked over at the two girls and give them a smile:

"There you two are, we've been waiting for you anxiously."

Before Momoi blurted out a stupid response, she saw the dining table was filled with other men. They looked over at the two girls with a strange yet intimidating stare, a few of them actually looked annoyed by their presence. Airi immediately clutched Momoi's hand tightly while hugging Bonnie to her chest with her other arm. 

"Onee-chan, they look kinda scary..." The seven-year-old whisperer quietly to her older sister in hopes they wouldn't hear. The older girl nodded and comforted her by stroking her thumb on the back of Airi's hand. Whispering back, "I know, just stay by me."

The two girls walked closer to the table, towards the two empty chairs reserved for them. The closer they got, the more Airi could see that one of the men sitting at the table was her new friend, Laito. A smile appeared on the little girl's face as she waved towards him cheerfully, making the older man hesitantly wave back with a nervous smile. Momoi rose a brow at the interaction, taking note to ask Airi when they were alone and away from the table full of strangers. The two took a seat at the empty seats left for them, in front of the man Airi knew and a white-haired man who wanted to be anywhere else but at this table. Servants came out and poured the girls water in the crystal glasses while the men around them had glasses of unidentifiable dark-red wine, serving hot portions of cream-colored soup to each person's dish while they were at it. Karlheinz gave off a gentle smile as he raised the crystal glass to his lips, "Now, we can begin our monthly dinner party."

"Oi, wanna explain the brats sitting at the table?" The red-haired man scoffed, making Airi sit up straight while Momoi squeezed her hand to calm her down. Karlheinz laughed as he placed his glass down gracefully on the white table cloth. "These two girls are our esteemed guest for the meantime, just until the rain clears up and they can get home safely. I hope there's nothing wrong with that."

"Of course not, Father. Ayato, please show your manners at the table and in front of guests." A dark-haired man monotonously scolded Ayato, who only scoffed and rolled his eyes in response to the man sitting across from him. The dinner began mainly hushed, only Karlheinz and a few of the men at the table were making their own conversation while the two pale blonde girls were quiet. Momoi carefully gazed at her little sister with her peripheral vision, gesturing to the small seven-year-old how to properly eat her soup and what utensil to use. Airi was grateful for this, otherwise she would of embarrassed herself not only in front of her Grandfather and her new friend, but also in front of the scary men! The lilac-eyed girl carefully placed the spoonful of soup in her mouth without making a mess, trying her best not to gag at the flavor of shrimp hitting her tongue and pretending she liked the disgusting bisque. The sound of Karlheinz's voice hitting her ears almost made her drop the spoon, thanking the lord she didn't. 

"How are you two liking your room so far? Are there any changes you want made?"

"No, we are quite satisfied. Thank you for allowing us to stay in your home after such an inconvenience." Momoi replied, bowing her head slightly towards the older man's direction. 

"I'm glad to hear that." He smiled, directing his golden cat-like eyes towards Airi, "What about you, Airi? Do you like it here? I apologize for my home not being as modern or kid-friendly as others, but there are plenty of activities to do here."

"A-Airi likes it here a lot! T-There's nothing wrong with your home because Airi likes it!"

"I hope you continue to feel that for the rest of your time here." Karlheinz smiled at the young girl, making her relax a bit when she realized her answer was correct. She mentally shook off the fear bubbling in her and clutched the rosary hidden in her dress, if her mother can go through her school smiling when all of the adults called her mean name, then Airi can handle some dinner party with people she's never met before! Laito carefully examined the seven-year-old in front of him without anyone looking, a lump forming in his throat when he saw her grab for the rosary under her clothes. He was just glad he was the one to see it and not any of his brothers, just the reaction of his brother seeing _her_ rosary would put Airi's life in danger. Laito didn't want that, even though she could easily bring him to his first love and see her for the first time in twelve years-

Laito loved Yui too much to do that to her.

It wasn't his right to suddenly appear in front of Yui after years of awful abuse nor was it his responsibility to protect Airi. Laito wasn't stupid, he could clearly see the resemblance between her and Kanato; their lavender eyes, abnormally pale skin, and their habit of carrying around a stuffed animal was enough for Laito to draw the conclusion that they were most likely related. Other than those traits, it was the fact that Airi smelled so much like Kanato with a hint of _her_ mixed in there. As the servants brought out the main course, Laito confirmed his position in his head before giving the curly pale blonde a smile. 

"Ne, Airi-chan. After dinner, let's take a walk around the garden. Do you like flowers?" 

Airi relaxed in response to Laito, smiling before nodding. "Airi really likes flowers! Airi collects them all the time with Baby Hayato for Mommy!"

"When are you going to stop calling Hayato that? He's only a year younger than you." Momoi questioned, adding onto the conversation so the other men wouldn't look over at their brother's sudden actions. However, Momoi didn't hesitate to shoot a questioning glare towards the ginger-haired man. Airi pouted and hugged Bonnie closer to her chest, "Baby Hayato will always be a baby to Airi! He's Airi's one and only baby brother, so Airi will always call him Baby Hayato!"

"That's so cute~ But it'll prevent him from getting a girlfriend in the future if you always call him that." Laito mused.

"It doesn't matter! Baby Hayato is too little for a girlfriend! Besides, he's too scared to talk to girls besides his sisters and Mommy!"

"That's...Something you shouldn't declare so proudly in the future." Laito laughed, earning a raised brow from Ayato. 

"Since when were you so friendly with them?"

"Oh? I only kept Airi company earlier in the game room when he was waiting for her older sister."

"You're getting along with strangers so well. Please stop, it's weird." The purple haired man commented blankly, paying attention to no one except a teddy bear with an eye patch. Airi noticed the man and brightened up a bit, holding onto her dear pink rabbit: Was this weird man like her? He also had a friend important to him like Bonnie is to her! Besides if she kinda squinted...

He looked a lot like her! So he has to be Airi's friend, because of how similar they are!

"Quit staring at me, you're upsetting me and Teddy." The violet haired man gave a cold monotonous look towards the seven-year-old, making her practically jump in her seat and look away, muttering 'Airi is sorry'. Maybe...Airi thought wrong this time. The scary man didn't want friends and she should respect it, after all he's like Adam! Adam always wants to be alone unless if it's with their mother!

Yeah! The scary man is only like Adam and didn't want friends! Not because he didn't like Airi! Because...

People not liking Airi...Made her sad. She needed to be strong just like her mother and smile when someone calls her mean names, or pulls her hair, or makes fun of the fact she didn't have a dad. The blonde haired little girl looked at her main entree with a smile on her face, clutching onto Bonnie tightly. 

 _Airi is strong. Airi is strong. The strongest little girl in the world. Airi was so strong, she could protect Mommy, Baby Hayato, and Baby Christina. Airi was so strong, she could protect all of her older siblings_

"Now, Now. Don't scare her like that, Kanato." Karlheinz chuckled.

"It's her fault for staring at me, it made my skin crawl. I don't like innocent eyes like hers." Kanato responded, not looking his father in the eye as he played with his teddy bear. Airi's small hand immediately went to her mother's rosary and clutched onto it gently as she smiled. She couldn't help but look at him! There was a reasonable reason why she kept looking at him!He just felt too familiar! That's all! Even though this is the first time she met him, her heart picked up its pace when she looked at him! As if it was yearning for the missing part in her puzzle-like body. Laito kept his flirty smile on as his eyes looked over at Airi worriedly, sighing mentally:

If he finds out, I can't even begin to imagine the horrible things he'll do to this little girl.

Momoi sent a hard look towards Kanato, hate bubbling in her body. How could he be so rude to a little girl? Then again, all of them were dangerous. They were vampires like the man sitting at the head of the table smiling away and sipping on his wineglass like a sadistic bastard. Even though she was weak, Momoi would never let these vampires touch her little sister! The pale blonde twelve-year-old clutched the fabric of her skirt as she grit her teeth, leaving her calm front untouched in front of all of these people. A small noise appeared in her head that made her more irritated as she was surrounded by the same monster who hurt her mother:

The sound of a rattlesnake.

* * *

Kumiko carried a small stack of scribbled-on office paper from the printer in the employee break room, her hands and fingers burned from using her crayons harshly. She looked around the small apartment until she turned to Adam, who was on the couch, almost halfway finished with his latest novel he borrowed from the local library. 

"Nii-san?"

"Hm?" The eleven-year-old hummed as he flipped another page in his dark red book. 

"Where's Momma?"

"She's resting right now."

"Did she get sick again?"

"I don't know, Aniki wouldn't tell me much when he helped Mother to her room. He told to not worry, so I don't think it's serious."

"Oh...I was gonna show Momma something..." Kumiko pouted lightly, her golden eyes staring down at her scribbles. The older boy's blue-grey eyes traveled through the paragraph as he spoke. "You can show her later, she's tired now."

"But...It's kinda important." Kumiko muttered as she hugged her drawings.

"So much that you'd disturb Mother from her rest?" Adam questioned monotonously, making the strawberry blonde girl look down with a guilty expression. The ash haired boy looked up from his book and sighed, placing a bookmark on his current page before closing the dark red book. "I guess for the meantime, you can show me."

"Really, Nii-san?!" The nine-year-old's eyes grew stars in them, making the eleven-year-old sigh once more in response to her excited nature. "Yes..."

Kumiko immediately made her way to the dark brown couch, climbing on top of the cushions and settling herself next to Adam with her drawings. Adam watched his younger sister 'straighten' all of her papers before angling them so that he could see all of her scribbles before speaking.

"I keep having 'daydreams' according to Momma when I showed her my first 'dream'. I had another one recently when I was playing with Fumuki and Kaoru! This is out it started: I was in a forest, like last time but you didn't see it, but I could see this time...And it was raining a lot! I was walking through the forest when all of the sudden a wolf appeared in front of me! I thought it was gonna eat me." The picture was of a poorly-drawn Kumiko in an equally poorly-drawn rainy forest with a large grey wolf in front of her. She turned the page to see her riding on the wolf, "But the wolf was really kind! He told me 'In dark times, I will be the one to guide you and the snake to the tree'. So I asked him, 'What tree?'. He told me, 'The tree where Eve slept for most of her life'. I didn't really understand, but I guess it was something from bible study in church. He let me ride his back through the forest and we ran super duper fast! It was kind of scary, but I liked it a lot in the end!"

Adam didn't really understand what was going on, but nevertheless he continued to listen to Kumiko's little 'story'. She turned to the next page, showing what appeared to be an apple tree and a large green snake wrapped around Momoi. 

"He took me to the same tree in my last dream! But this time, Nee-san was there! A friendly snake was guarding her until I arrived, he was really nice to do that. The snake told me, 'both of the founders' children are here, please proceed with the awakening ceremony.'. I didn't know what a ceremony was"

"It's...A party of some sorts for a certain occasion." Adam interrupted, making Kumiko smile at him. "Thank you, Nii-san!"

"You're welcome."

"But before the party could start, these two guys just suddenly appeared in front of me!" Kumiko turned to the next page, revealing two poorly-drawn men with shadowed features. "The guy with the eye patch appeared in my first dream! And now there was a guy who looked like Nee-san! They didn't really say anything, only the wolf and the snake bowed to them, calling them 'the founders'. I didn't know what they found and I never got a chance to because I woke up!"

Adam rose a brow at this, 'The Founders'? He recalled an early chapter in his book describing such people, how they were the ancestor race of all demon-kind in the demon realm. What else could he recall? They had the ability to shift into different animals, they could use magic, summon familiars, and could only be killed by decapitation. Adam couldn't remember much, he'll probably look back through his book to refresh his memory because Kumiko's little 'daydream' was so oddly _specific_. The faded strawberry blonde looked up at the eleven-year-old and smiled with a wolfish grin. 

"That's the end of my daydream!"

"It's very nice...Can you recall anything else from it?"

"Well..." Kumiko scratched her head as she furrowed her eyebrows, trying to remember something she didn't scribble onto the office supply paper. "The snake was talking about something called...Endzeit? I think it's German or something."

"Is that all?"

"...The wolf said something about my blood, but I didn't understand the rest of it. I thought he was telling me I was bleeding, but I wasn't. That's all I remember, sorry Nii-san."

"No, it's fine. You've done enough for now. Go off and play, don't worry about it too much." Adam gave Kumiko a small smile as he petted her head, making the nine-year-old pull him into a surprise hug. She squeezed him as tightly as she could before letting him go, grabbing her drawings and hopping off the couch to run back downstairs to go play with the quadruplets or something. Now that he was alone, Adam turned the book in his hands to the cover, staring at the gold cursive on the dark red surface. A little girl's daydream shouldn't bother him so much, but because of how many things he recognized in her story he needed to satisfy his growing curiosity. Adam sighed as he continued to gaze at the cover with his blue-grey eyes.

_Sensei, please guide me to satisfy my curiosity. I'm worried for Kumiko..._

Just below the title 'The Curse of Eve', the author's name was imprinted in the same gold cursive font:

**_Mukami Ruki_ **

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took forever! I'm trying my best to give you guys the quality content you need! Although it isn't perfect, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	6. Crescent Moon

Karlheinz really wasn't kidding about sending a tailor over to Yui's way, she didn't expect the tailor to look and act like a walking corpse when he came into the diner. It looked a very thin man with obvious undernourishment shown in his cheeks and bony hands, the color so washed out of him that he could blend in with a freshly bleached towel. He barely had any hair, all that was left were wisps of light gray hair that were styled to look like a comb-over most older gentlemen would have gelled to their heads. The 'tailor' had dead black fish eyes, an old pair of copper bifocals rested on the bridge of his nose and magnified his dead eyes. He wore all black; turtle neck, trench coat, slacks, shoes, even his vintage looking-bag was black. Misa was obviously very freaked out when greeting him, Yui could see the hairs standing up on her neck as the tailor only grunted in a low voice before walking to the closest table to set his bag on, his walk was slow with a limp. He slowly opened his bag with his thin fingers and dug around until he had a paper tape measure in his grasp. He turned to the pale blonde woman and grunted to what she could recognize as 'please come here'.   

Yui flashed a nervous smile and nodded, stepping towards the zombie-like man and standing still while he slowly and painstakingly measured her. The tailor measured her neck, following with her shoulders, then only to one arm down to the elbow and wrist, even measuring each individual finger. He muttered the numbers in a low rough voice and messily scribbled it on a piece of yellowed paper, returning to the younger woman and muttered, 'lift up your arms'. To be honest, Yui was very uncomfortable with the tailor. She was just lucky there were no customers left because of the typhoon. Was this man actually a zombie or some type of walking corpse? Was he going to eat her brains or was he a familiar of Karlheinz? He was definitely under the heavy influence of completing his job, he pretty much ignored Misa and Takeru when they offered something to drink or eat. Yui gulped as he measured her bust, but she sent a reassuring smile to a tense Shiori in order to calm her down. Unlike her children, Shiori and Takeru knew the 'upbringing' of all of her children and were very quick to deal with anyone who wanted to make a forceful move on her. The tailor measured Yui's torso and waist, muttering the numbers once more as he messily scribbled them down with an aged ink pen. 

"Um...Are you staying somewhere in town? I hope you didn't have to walk through all of the rain."

The tailor only grumbled something incomprehensible before taking his tape measure and measured the length and width of her legs, finishing the process by wrapping the tape measure around her ankles and then started to mutter the numbers, scribbling them down. The washed-out man turned to Yui, staring straight into her soul with those dead fish eyes. He spoke a little louder this time, "What shoe size are you?"

"Twenty-four centimeters." The tailor muttered a low 'thank you' before writing it down on the paper. He looked around the room, unaware of the others in the dinner staring at him until he set his sight on Hayato. He slowly limped over to the six-year-old, making him tense and back away slowly with a scared look on his face. "M-Mama? W-Why is he coming towards me?"

"The nice man is going to take your measurements, he's going to make you a suit to wear."

"B-But, I already have church clothes?"

"No, no. We're going to a party! Here, I'll be with you." Yui rushed over to the white-haired boy and knelled down to his height to comfort him while the tailor slowly knelled down, creating an unsettling crack with each sudden movement until his knee was on the floor. Yui held Hayato's hand as the tailor slowly measured the young boy, doing the same process of doing one section and muttering the numbers as he messily scribbled them down on the yellowed piece of paper. It didn't take a lot to make Hayato uncomfortable, this was definitely one of those moments. Yui could only squeeze his hand reassuringly as her mind scrambled to come up with a believable lie about why they were suddenly getting fitted for a suit and a dress. Yes, she said they were going to a party, but Hayato will ask for more details and she still had to do something about Airi and Momoi still at that _god forsaken_ mansion. Sooner or later, everyone will start asking where those two are. It was selfish of Yui to keep quiet about her children's fathers, that her children were actually half vampire, and about Karlheinz. She was going to tell them at some point, but it was difficult to explain to a child that their father raped their mother in order to have them. Most of them don't even know how babies are made! When Yui finally got out of her pregnancy depression, she told herself that she needed to prepare for the day when one of them asked about their father. It's been twelve years and she still wasn't ready to tell them, let alone meet them again. Yui wasn't stupid, she knew all of her children were curious about their fathers. She knew about the kids that teased Airi about not having a father around, she knew that Harue wrote to Santa Claus for three straight Christmases that all she wanted was her father, Yui knew about the hidden resentment Yuuta had for his father not being around every time he muttered in his sleep. It was horrible, horrible that her children were in the dark because she was too scared to face her fears. It wouldn't be long before one of them stopped believing that she had nightmares over small things, or see the old scars on her body, or try to figure out the cause for her occasional panic attacks. All Yui could do right now was squeeze her son's hand tightly with a fake smile on her face, trying her best to hide the sadness in her. Suddenly, a memory played through her head:

_"Thank you for coming in, Miss Komori. Here, let me help you." Yuuta's second grade teacher, Mr. Takahashi, pulled out a plastic chair for the very pregnant woman who politely thanked him before sitting down. It was currently Parent-Teacher Conference day at Ume-Saito Elementary School, all of the children were playing in the gym while the parents were meeting with teachers. Mr. Takahashi sat down at his desk and pulled out a manila folder with Yuuta's name printed on the tab. "Is it just you today, or did your husband come as well?"_

_"Ah, I don't have a husband. It's just me." Yui smiled softly, the older man apologized before opening the folder. "Your son is very intelligent, however he has the tendency to sleep during class and lunch. Is he getting enough sleep at home?"_

_"Yuuta just sleeps a lot. He comes home after school to sleep, I wake him up for dinner, make sure he does his homework, and then he goes to bed. He actually goes to bed at around nineteen or twenty o'clock, sometimes seventeen! His infant brother goes to bed a lot later than he does! I took him to the doctor and he said that Yuuta is perfectly healthy, so I'm not really sure why he sleeps a lot."_

_"Really, that's interesting." Mr. Takahashi was baffled at the response, continuing to shuffle through the papers in the folder. There were some perfect tests scores, the older man questioned whether Yuuta actually studies his workbooks at home or cheats, to which Yui replied that Yuuta knew better than to cheat and that either she or one of his 'grandparents' help him out every night. There were a couple of few-worded apology letters Yuuta turned in because he would make kids cry for calling them 'stupid' or 'dumb', some mainly blank pages with some marks on them when he turned in art projects, and finally he pulled out a small booklet with the back and front made from laminated paper. "This is our writing journal, every child is given one and they are free to decorate it with what they like."_

_"I...Guess art isn't his strong suit?" Yui laughed weakly as she stared at the black white 'cover', the only thing on it was 'Komori Yuuta' written on the front by the teacher. He flipped it open and skimmed through a few pages until he found the one he wanted to show to Yui, pushing the journal towards her. "One of our writing exercises was to write what they liked or just about fathers for Father's Day and to share it with the class. This is what your son wrote."_

_Yui's velvet pink eyes read through the passage that took up two whole pages in the book, Yuuta's messy handwriting and dark erase marks still legible:_

 

> **_'Father's Day'_ **
> 
> **_by: Komori Yuuta_ **
> 
> **_I hate Father's Day_ **
> 
> **_I reminds me that I dont have a dad._ **
> 
> **_When I watch other kids and their dads smiling and laughing_ **
> 
> **_I feel like they are making fun of me._ **
> 
> **_I didnt have a dad to teach me how to ride a bike,_ **
> 
> **_How to fish,_ **
> 
> **_How to tie my shoes,_ **
> 
> **_how to play soccer._ **
> 
> **_I never had a dad to even hug and kiss me good night._ **
> 
> **_This day is stupid._ **
> 
> **_I am used to not living with a dad,_ **
> 
> **_Mother does everything for me and my siblings._ **
> 
> **_She showed me how to ride a bike,_ **
> 
> **_how to fish,_ **
> 
> **_how to tie my shoes,_ **
> 
> **_how to play soccer (shes not good at it),_ **
> 
> **_and even showed me how to play the piano._ **
> 
> **_I don't need a dad._ **
> 
> **_All I need is my mother and my siblings._ **
> 
> **_But I want to know what happened to my dad_ **
> 
> **_where is he?_ **
> 
> **_why did he leave?_ **
> 
> **_why did he leave mother alone?_ **
> 
> **_she's sad all the time, and he still left her._ **
> 
> **_I hate him._ **

_Yui's heart dropped to her stomach as Mr. Takahashi sighed, taking the journal back._

_"Have you ever thought about taking Yuuta to a therapist? This is just an assumption, but maybe this is part of the reason why he sleeps so much. I could be wrong though."_

_"I...Can't afford it..." Yui choked out, balling her pale hands into tight fists. The older teacher paused for a moment before hesitantly asking, "If you don't mind me asking, what happened to Yuuta's father? You don't need to answer it if you feel uncomfortable."_

_"He...Left before Yuuta was conceived." Yui lied. No one would understand her situation, maybe even call her crazy. It was for the better to just make up a completely normal situation rather than telling the strange truth. Mr. Takahashi understood and proceeded to tell Yui of the school system's child program. It allowed her children to be completely covered for meals, textbooks, hospital and dental visits, and therapist visits. He told her that he could recommend her to the program and that she'll most likely get in due to her situation, the pale blonde only nodding quietly. She never knew Yuuta felt this way, he had a hard time opening up about his feelings. Yui wasn't stupid, one of her children were bound to ask about their father, but never did she thought she would find out like this, all of his feelings he pushed down and never letting her know. Both Yuuta and Momoi were constantly worried about her rather than enjoying their youth like normal kids, maybe because they weren't normal kids. None of her kids were 'normal', from the moment they were conceived to right now. The conference continued for a little more before Mr. Takahashi helped Yui up from the seat and saw her out of the classroom, the pale blonde bowed her head to the older man and slowly walked towards the gymnasium, her eyes were glued to the floor as she took each slow step. The whispers around her faded like smoke when they reached her, the usual gossip about her. About how she was yet again pregnant, that she was a harlot, a whore, and how they pitied her children who would grow up without knowing their fathers. She stepped into the gymnasium, looking to the bleachers to see Yuuta asleep while Momoi was reading a picture book, Adam and Reika weren't too far off reading their own books, both higher reading levels than what they were supposed to be for their ages. The rest of the children were running around the gym, playing around and doing their own things. Yui slowly made her way towards the bleachers, ignoring the screaming of young children and not minding the balls that would almost hit her until she was standing in front of Yuuta sleeping. Momoi looked up from her picture book and blinked, "Are you done now, Mother?"_

_Yui didn't reply, she only crouched and gently shook the blonde boy from his peaceful sleep. Yuuta groggily opened his ocean blue eyes and sat up, rubbing the tired out of his eyes. "Mother?"_

_The pale blonde woman engulfed her eldest son into a tight hug, squeezing tightly but not enough to hurt him. The pale blonde boy yawned and blinked out of confusion until he felt something wet on his shoulder, the soft cries that were muffled by his shirt were all so clear to him._

_"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry, Yuuta..."_

_He couldn't say anything, he could only accept his mother's hug by wrapping his thin arms around her body. Yuuta wasn't sure why Yui was apologizing to him, but he didn't like seeing his mother cry. All the times she would cry and scream in her sleep was already too much for the eight-year-old, he pat her back tenderly while Momoi just stared at the scene, not daring to speak up or ruin the moment._

"I'll have the outfits done in two days time." The tailor grunted as he packed his bag up, Yui nodded and thanked him for taking the time to come out during this bad weather. The tailor only grunted and slowly trudged out of the diner and into the pouring rain, not even caring if he got soak to the bones or...Whatever he had left in there. Hayato looked up at Yui, his arms still wrapped around her thin legs as he blinked curiously. "Mama, why are we going to a party? What kind of party is it? Is it like Justin's party?" 

"No, not really. It is a birthday party, but it's a really fancy one. People there are wearing suits and dresses, they all stand around with fancy glasses, and they dance to an orchestra playing music all night long." Yui stood up and picked up her son, "We're going because...We got an invite in the mail, someone I used to...Live with is throwing it for his son. He invited the two of us to go at the end of this week."

"Then...Should we get him a gift?" Hayato tilted his head, making Yui giggle as she ruffled his head of snow-white hair. "No, just going there would be enough."

"Eh, no fair! Mother and little Hayato get to go to an exclusive party!" Kei sighed with her chin resting on her propped up arm, Minato nodded and continued her sentence while doing the same pose. "Mm-hm, they get to see all of the pretty outfits and eat expensive sweets."

"But something seems off, don't you think Minato?" 

"Yeah, something is off, Kei." The emerald-eyed twins looked at each other, grinning mischievously. 

"There's more to the story." They both quietly grinned, making sure their mother didn't hear them. Adam overheard the two and sighed, they were so predictable. If curiosity was a cat, they would of killed it off in less than a day. It was normal for a young child to have curiosity and question a lot, after all Kei and Minato are only nine years old. But they have a whole different level of curiosity, to the point where they had to dig into it to find out the answer. Like a smoker who needed a nicotine fix, these two would constantly search and dig around for the answer once their curiosity had been piqued. That's how they end up finding out about some rather dark secrets and get in trouble a lot, making a name for themselves to never make them curious and keep dark secrets far from them. One time, they followed a married teacher and peeked on her having an affair with another teacher, immediately spreading around school until it reached the principal and getting the teachers fired. Even when separated, Kei and Minato act as one. Kei exposed a seemingly perfect child for being a bully and forcing other kids to do his homework one day and Minato followed a girl and found that her parents were abusive and brought an adult with him to the scene, the parents getting sent to jail and the girl sent to live with her aunt and uncle. The biggest secret they uncovered at school was when the former vice principal had an obsession with this one fifth-grader and fantasized about raping her, of course they didn't understand what rape was, but they still told the school's officer and gave him his journal for evidence. Kei and Minato were then dubbed 'The Cats of Ume-Saito' because of their cat-like eyes, how quietly they could sneak around, and how they always caught everything. Adam always told them to not get in trouble with their dangerous curiosity and that they shouldn't put more stress on their mother by getting into trouble often, they never really listened, but kept their 'watching' to a low. The dark haired eleven-year-old gazed down at his book, feeling the textured pages. He stopped at a paragraph before the strange man walked in to 'measure' Yui and Hayato, pondering about it for some time now; Yes, _The Curse of Eve_ was technically a fiction about vampires, however Adam felt a strange amount of familiarity reading through the pages. This paragraph almost frightened him a bit:

 

> _"Vampiric children will start to develop noticeable abilities after the age of four. Most of the time, they will be very weak compared to an adult vampire; however it isn't impossible for a child to be blessed with great power in abilities. To determine if a child will grow an ability, they will have a gene that can be identified with the color of their natural nails. Pink with white tips indicate that a child will grow an ability, a lighter pink determines that the child will have a great amount of strength with their ability, dark pink nails will indicate that the child will have a delay in their growth and thus gaining abilities later than the normal expectancy. If one's nails fade from a different color to any of the following pinks, they will have something called a 'catalyst' for an ability._
> 
> _To put it simply, a catalyst is a starter point to help a child evolve from one ability to another. It is not as common, however it is still rather normal. If the color is white, the catalyst is preparing the child for an ability relating to 'foresight' or 'truth detection'. If the color is red, the catalyst is preparing for ability relating to fire or heat in general. Blue signals the catalyst is preparing for water-related abilities, green indicates something related to plant life, yellow catalysts usually prepare for smoke or wind related abilities. White and grey get confused for one another, since both can have the outcome ability relating to death; however, white catalysts can also relate to medicinal abilities while grey can usually raise the dead and make familiars when white cannot do that. White and grey catalysts can still kill someone, so please take it seriously. Purple indicates venomous abilities, but it can also be very harmful to the child's health. Finally, Black can be considered to be the most inconsistent out of all of the catalysts. There is no correlation to any of its possible outcomes, which is why it is the most rare out of the colors. From a recorded instance, black catalysts tend to be in the realms of 'mind control' or 'brain washing', 'knowledge', and 'transformation'. The color of a vampiric child's nails will usually fade away when they obtain their ability, but it isn't common for spots and lines to appear on their nails. This means that the child will go through another catalyst phase, ultimately gaining an ability and will repeat until no more lines and spots appear. The catalysts can run through a family lineage, however it can just appear randomly "_

Adam looked down at his hand and examined his nails. Other than the shade of healthy pink and white tips, he saw something if he looked closer. The smallest hint of black faded into his cuticle.

He was falling into a pit of curiosity, he was the Alice who gazed down the rabbit hole before falling.

* * *

Airi quickly made sure Momoi was fast asleep before slowly crawling out of the king-sized bed, using the beige and laced bed sheets to climb down until her feet touched the plush carpet. Momoi was a very light sleeper and she was usually a night owl, the complete opposite of Yuuta, so Airi had to lay there until Momoi was in the middle of her sleep. Tip-toeing carefully and clutching Bonnie in her hands, Airi kept looking back to make sure her older sister was still asleep while making her way to the door of the bedroom. One of her steps lead to the floorboards underneath to squeak loudly and making Airi cringe, looking back to see that Momoi shuffled a little bit and rolled to her side. Breathing out a quick and silent sigh of relief, the lavender-eyed girl continued to tip-toe to the door and carefully crack it open, slipping through when the door was wide enough to fit her through. She made it out to the hall and carefully shut the door, silently praying to god to not let the door squeak. Airi successfully managed to close the door and power walked down the halls until she made it to the stairs. She wanted to go back to the gardens, she couldn't stop thinking about it when Laito showed her after dinner. The thousands of roses were so beautiful even in the pouring rain, Airi had a hunch that they would look even more beautiful in the night. She saw the moon out as it rained, so the wet roses must look beautiful with the moon shining on them! 

Quietly, Airi's small feet pattered down the spiraling staircase. She made sure look around before entering each room, being mindful of the servants or any of the actual residents of the mansion. Eventually she was standing in front of the entrance to the gardens, grabbing the black umbrella Laito used earlier. Opening the door, she whispered gleefully to the pink rabbit in her arms.

"This is it Bonnie, we're so grown up, we're going to see the roses by ourselves! Airi wishes Mommy was here, roses are her favorite flower!" Airi struggled to open the black umbrella for a few seconds until it opened up, allowing her to step outside onto the paved walkway with her bare feet. She didn't even think to grab her shoes, but she didn't care at the moment. All Airi really wanted at that moment was to play around and admire the roses in the pouring rain as the moon was out. The pale blonde lifted the umbrella to protect her body getting pelted with rainwater and ran out, giggling as her feet splashed in the cold puddles, it was just like playing in the rain with the triplets and the quadruplets at the diner's backyard. The only difference was that there was a lot more space to allow Airi to run around. 

The seven-year-old walked around the property, walking down stone steps to head to the dozen upon dozens of hedges that bordered the path around the gardens. She smiled, placing the umbrella in her arm to still cover her as she ran her hand through some of the rose-less hedges, allowing her pale hands to feel the soaked green leaves. Airi considered herself one of the few who actually spent time out of their day to appreciate nature and the outdoors; she, Harue, Fumuki, Hiroto, Kaede, and Kaoru all give respect to the nature around them, mainly because Shiori was such a free-spirited old woman who had trouble letting go of her sixties way of thinking. She helped out their mother when she was too sick to watch over them, especially last year, when Yui had to be in the hospital for months.

_"Airi, look! A family of rabbits!" Shiori pointed to the bunch of wild coffee-colored rabbits basking in the spring sun, surrounded by a patch of green grass. Airi smiled and nodded, pointing to each rabbit. "That's the mommy rabbit, the daddy rabbit, and the baby rabbits!"_

_"That's right, they're here to enjoy the nature like we are." The older woman smiled softly, her long white hair tied in a loose bun flowed softly in the breeze. Airi squeezed Bonnie to her chest and looked over to one of the hundred windows of the hospital building, the staff were generous enough to let both Shiori and Airi into the private gardens to get the quadruplets to stop running around the halls of the ward. The squealing and laughter from the brunette and blonde quadruplets didn't really matter at the moment, it was normal to hear after all, Airi counted each passing day Yui was stuck in the hospital. One day, she collapsed after working too hard to try and pay off her hospital bills herself. All of her children, Shiori, and Takeru rushed her to the nearest hospital, waited in the halls for several hours until the doctors came out and let everyone to see her. Airi was too young to understand what 'anemia', 'iron deficiency', 'insomnia', or 'anorexia' but she could tell that they were all hurting her precious mother, making her lay barely awake in a cramped hospital bed never to see light for months. She heard Takeru talk about how careless Yui could be, never worrying about herself over others. Sadness washed over the pale blonde's face as she saw the closed white curtains of her mother's hospital room, Shiori sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder._

_"Mommy is going to be alright...She just needs to get better. It takes time for her body to become better again."_

_"A-Airi knows...Ne, Obaa-chan? Airi remembers during church that God loves everyone, that he would never let someone go down a painful path with him by his side. Then tell Airi..." Airi looked up to the brown-eyed woman, tears welling up in her lilac-colored eyes. "Why is he letting Mommy suffer? Why is she the one going down the painful path when God promised her that he would always look after his children!?"_

_"God cannot prevent unfortunate events. However, he will grace those who have suffered with peace when they have given so much kindness. He will provide them with a foundation and as long as you put your hope in him, he will be by your side sharing the pain with you." Shiori sighed, trying to remember at least one of the bible lessons she didn't sleep through. Takeru was better at religion and faith than her, he grew up as a sheltered Christian and had to learn everything the hard way when he grew up while she was having fun. Shiori gestured around the garden as she continued to talk. "That's why you have to be strong too, everything around you has to go through suffering until they can reach their peaceful foundation. Plants fear getting destroyed, animals fear being hunted, bugs fear being squished, water fears drying up, and even the air fears of becoming polluted. Everyone suffers through life, but suffering helps people grow until they have found their peace. That's why we need to enjoy the moment, don't worry about the future. You have to be strong in the face of the future."_

_Shiori plucked a white flower off of the ground and held it up to Airi so she could see._

_"Why don't you enjoy the nature in place of Mommy? Everything she can't see, you can see for her. Let her enjoy the sun, the wind, the flowers, and the animals through you. Help her through this time by being her guide in your way."_

_"...Okay!" Airi smile, wiping her eyes as she continued to walk around with Shiori. She made sure to look at each plant with detail, note every animal she saw, feel the warmth of the sun and the chill of the wind. Airi was going to help her mother heal during her time of suffering by experiencing and telling her all about it. She was still sad about Yui being sick, but it was better for her to take off Yui's suffering by not making her worry while healing._

"Ne, Bonnie! These pink ones are so pretty! They look like Mommy's eyes! Airi wishes she could be here to see this." Airi giggled as she gently touched the soft and damp dark pink petals, swirling around soft spiral as the crescent moon in the sky made the water on it glow. The pale blonde carefully dragged her fingers along the wet leaves and flowers, making sure to not prick herself on one of the thousands of thorns, enjoying the feeling of the glowing raindrops until seeing a single rosebud in the lower center of the hedge. Airi made her way over to it and crouched down to make eye contact with it, she gently tapped her finger on the rose bud and giggled. "Do you feel sad? That all of your brothers and sisters bloomed before you? It's okay, you just need more time to become beautiful! Airi's Obaa-chan said that late bloomers were the most beautiful of flowers!" 

The seven-year-old caressed the rosebud with her index finger gently. 

"Have you ever heard of _The Ugly Duckling_? A mother duck's eggs hatch, all except one large egg. The other animals say it might be a turkey egg, however the mother duck continues to sit on the egg until it hatches. The other ducklings are pretty while the last duck turned out to be very ugly. He keeps getting made fun of until he is convinced that he's not a duck! He goes around to all of the animals to try and see if he is one of them until he gave up and jumped into the lake. Suddenly, he became the most beautiful swan! Maybe you'll be the most beautiful rose in this whole patch! Maybe you'll even be a different color! Airi is sure you'll be the prettiest flower in the whole garden. But just in case you still think you're going to be ugly," The pale blonde started to circle her finger around the rosebud, "Airi will last a spell on you!"

She quietly muttered something while drawing an imaginary heart around the small rosebud until she tapped its tip once more.

"There you are! Airi's magical happiness spell! She learned it from Mommy! You will have eternal happiness! Good luck, little flower, Airi wants to go walk around some more!" The lilac-eyed girl bid the flower a goodbye before standing up and walking away to go admire the other flowers and plants in the garden. Moments later, she started to sing her favorite song quietly to herself. Would the birds wake up to her song to sing along? She wasn't sure about the bats, they were just hanging around upside down by themselves in packs.

...Why were there so many bats here?

Airi didn't think much of it other than there was probably a cave nearby. She was much more interested in seeing the fruit trees; Apples, cherries, oranges, pears all growing in the same place! There were some strawberry and blueberry bushes nearby too! This house was lucky to have so many fruit plants here, they could have so many snacks and so many desserts made! The thought of her mother's beloved fruit tart made Airi's mouth water at the thought, she always asked for it when Yui allowed her to pick a dessert for a special occasion. She stopped on her little walk and looked up to see a giant stone tower looming over her, she stared in awe as she tipped back the umbrella enough to see while still being sheltered.

"Wow! Do you think Rapunzel lives there? Is she waiting for her prince?"

"It's more like the prince locked up Rapunzel in that tower." Airi jumped at the sound of a voice, turning around and tightly squeezed her stuffed rabbit to her chest when she saw a maid standing behind her with her own black umbrella. A young woman who wasn't too bad on the eyes; cropped toffee-brown hair done in tiny braids with tiny black ribbons, crystal blue eyes, and stood as tall as Yui. The only notable thing about her was how pale she was, Airi could see every blue vein in her white skin. The seven-year-old girl straightened her posture and stuttered an attempt for formal speech. "A-Airi didn't know someone was out here...A-Airi will go back right now."

"No, I'm not mad. I'm just surprised that you made it out here without anyone noticing." The young woman spoke softly as she giggled, her crystal blue eyes looked up to the top window of the tower and sighed. "A princess used to live here, but she died a long time ago."

"Really? A real life princess?! Did she have super long and pretty blonde hair like Rapunzel? Could she use it as a rope for the witch?" The maid giggled at how easily excited the young girl got as she answer, Airi noticing just how slow and slurred her speech was. "That's right. Only she wasn't Rapunzel, her hair was white and only reached below her knees. Do you remember in the story that the witch kept Rapunzel in the tower until the prince rescued her?"

Airi nodded, the maid continued. 

"The prince locked her up in that tower after they had a son."

"Ehh?! That's so mean! If the prince loved the princess, he wouldn't of locked her up! Imagine how to son felt!" Airi was genuinely shocked, there was no one this cruel! 

"That's because the prince didn't love her at all, the princess went crazy after she found out she was used. The prince locked her up and went on to become a king while the princess was left to rot away in her tower, her son having to shoulder the burden. Would you like to know what happened to the son?"

Airi hesitantly nodded for the maid to continue.

"Well, he looked so much like the prince. The princess got confused and would do mean things to her son because of the hate she harbored, the princess would yell, hit, and call the son mean name. Other times, she treated him like he was the most precious jewel in the world. The son knew what the prince did to the princess, so he tried to protect her at all costs, but alas the princess tricked herself into believing that the prince still loved her. Eventually, the princess was done suffering and told the son to kill her..." The maid looked over at Airi, who was mortified. "So he did. He put her to rest after she suffered for so long. The son grew up to be a mean and violent shell with a broken inside."

"T...The poor son!" Tears started to well up in her eyes, she hiccuped as she held the dots of tears. "W-What happened to him?!"

"One day, the son met a beautiful maiden. At first, he was super mean to her because he was afraid of people getting close to her. Eventually, he fell in love with her and opened up to the maiden. That's when the prince brewed up a wicked plan, a plan that made the maiden run away and broke the son even more. He returned to his former shell, only this time he was sad on the inside...Do you think the son should find the maiden?"

"Y-Yes! The maiden made him happy! That prince is a jerk, he's no real prince! A prince is a kind and charming man who rescues the princess from danger, not put her in danger! Airi hates him!" The maiden gave off another soft smile, walking closer to the girl with a slight limp. The closer she got, the more a putrid stench dodged the scnet of rain water and stabbed Airi's nose. She didn't say anything to be polite, but the maid smelled like something _died_. "But the prince had other sons. Two with a baroness and three with a duchess. All of the sons treated the maiden horribly until she managed to worm her way into their hearts, all of them fell in love with her. But the king made them hurt the maiden, now they all hate the king more."

"Good! No one should love someone so evil!" 

"Even if he had a good reason to?"

"No one good would put their loved ones through so much pain without hesitation!" The way the little girl huffed out her beliefs with tears in her eyes amused the young maid, she held her hand out to her with a soft smile still on her pale pink lips.

"Here, let's get you back inside. Your feet must be cold." Airi looked down at her soaked feet on the watery surface, they were getting pretty cold. She didn't hesitate to accept the older woman's cold hand, walking alongside her when she closed Laito's umbrella to get under hers. "What's your name? Airi's name is Komori Airi. This is Airi's best friend, Bonnie!"

The pale blonde held out the stuffed pink rabbit, the limping maid smiled. 

"Morana, but you can call me 'Ana-chan', okay?"

"Mm-hm! Ana-chan!" 

"Lets make you something hot and dry you off."

The two made simple small talk as they walked back inside, simple things that a child could answer: Where they lived, favorite color, who was in their family, favorite hobby, favorite food, things they were good at, and other minute things. Airi learned that Morana has lived in the Sakamaki manor with her family as servants for her whole life, her favorite color was dark purple, she only had a father, a mother, and a younger brother. Morana has a sensitive stomach, so there weren't a lot of foods she could actually eat, her favorite happened to be graham crackers. Morana's favorite hobby was sewing, and that she was good at house chores and watching over children. The limping maid was a mystery to Airi, so she just had to ask:

"Ana-chan, why are you limping? Are you hurt?"

"Hm? No...I was born with this." Morana managed to brush off the question rather quickly before Airi asked anything else on that subject. The two were in the grand foyer, walking off to a secluded hallway and into a muted lavender-themed living room. The brunette maid had to push Airi along to sit down on one of the couches because she was too appalled by the decor; she has never been into a house as fancy as this one, there were so many rooms with pretty decorations and so much space to walk around in. For all of her live, she shared a single room with all twenty-two of her siblings and mother on tiny futons. The apartment above the diner didn't have a lot of space in the first place, since both Shiori and Takeru were occupied with the diner and didn't want to worry about managing a large house. Imagine trying to squeeze twenty-three extra people in a two-bedroom and bath apartment. Not only that, most of the rooms looked extremely boring. Airi didn't see Morana walk off, so it kind of surprised her when the maid suddenly got on her knees and started rubbing her feet dry with a fluffy white towel. The seven-year-old giggled in response, flailing her legs as the towel tickled the soles of her feet. When they were dried off, Morana placed the towel on the pale blonde's lap and slowly stood up. "I'll go fix you something...Would you like hot cocoa...Or warm milk with honey?"

Airi frowned, noticing that Morana was talking a lot slower now. "A-Ah, you don't have to do it if you're tired, Ana-chan."

"No, it's my job...To make sure that the guests are satisfied...With their experience here."

"If Ana-chan insists...Just make Airi something easy for you! Airi doesn't want you to be hurting!" Morana giggled softly at her response, telling her that she'll be back soon with a bow. She limped off in a different direction, probably to the kitchen while the young girl stayed planted on the couch with Bonnie in her arms. She looked down and started talking with her beloved friend:

"Ne, Bonnie. Do you think when we're older, we can give Mommy a house like this? One with hundreds of rooms decorated pretty and a beautiful garden! Airi thinks adding the princess tower is a bad idea, no one should go through the pain of the princess! What did the Baroness and the Duchess go through? Airi hopes it wasn't as bad as the princess." The pale blonde continued to talk to Bonnie for a couple of minutes to past the time. Even though the mansion was pretty to look around, there was absolutely nothing to do in it. They don't even have a single TV in here! What the people who lived here even do to pass the time? Airi blew a raspberry and stared at the old clock near the fireplace, it was around midnight and the rain still overpowered the night outside. Why was it raining so much? It hasn't stopped since yesterday...Was god sad and crying? Did someone hurt him? Did someone he knew get hurt? Was he crying for one of his children? That's what Miss Junsei said at Sunday school; the weather depicts god's emotions. If it was sunny, God is happy. If it was raining, God is sad. If it was too hot, God is angry. If it was snowing, he was sick. To be honest, none of the younger Komori children who went to Miss Junsei actually believed it, but was a nice distraction if their was a scary storm outside or something. Through the dull pattering of the rain outside, a cacophony of harmless bullets pelting the house, Airi could hear something very distinct in the distance. She looked up and looked around, she was still alone in the room. The pale blonde concentrated on the sound, trying her best to cancel out the rain until she could hear words.

_"shizuka ni nemuru, anata no kubi ni nokotta akashi..."_

"Mommy's song?" Airi pushed the towel in her lap aside as she hopped off the couch and landed with a tiny dull thud, her feet instantly carrying her off without permission towards the singing. The voice was luring the seven-year-old girl like a sweet-tasting honey, candy that was too irresistible to her ears. The voice was either high for a man or low for a woman, the tone was sweet and warm, the delivering of each word was perfect like how Yui sung to Airi. The pale blonde wanted to hug the voice, it felt warm and safe for some reason. Her ears told her heart to follow no matter what; Airi's feet stopped at the entrance of a room, her heart beating rapidly when she saw someone sitting on the ledge of a balcony. Words became a cocoon in Airi's throat, they couldn't go in or out, they awaited to become a butterfly of a sentence as her lavender eyes watch the person intently. She remembered clearly that the back of purple hair belonged to that man with the teddy bear, the one who didn't want to be friends with her and looked at her with such mean eyes. He would be mad if he caught her watching him sing, but Airi didn't think nor care about the possibility. All she really cared about right now was the warmth engulfing her body in a welcoming tidal wave, washing through her as her heart felt at piece. 

For a moment, her puzzle felt almost complete. 

Airi's heart took control from her brain, making her not realize that she sung along with Kanato.

 _"In The Labyrinth, karada yosete kuchibiru, kawasu yo_  
_ai wa, tooku"_

She started off quietly, eventually growing louder until she was the same volume as the older man.

_"honoka ni kanji, anata no. Mimi ni sasayaku kibou. Yumemita omoi no hate ni tsuku no ga kurai shin’en da toshite mo. ima kono itooshisa to setsunasa o mune ni, futari nemure..."_

Airi suddenly couldn't feel the floor anymore, she flew to the wall and felt the wind get knocked out on her. She let out a weak choke as her lavender eyes met with a matching pair, a pair that looked down at her with such rage and disgust. Hands wrapped around her delicate throat, trapping air as she weakly hit at the pale hands to beg for her air back. Kanato gazed down at the small girl, who might as well been a writhing bug about to be squished, and hissed at her.

"How...How do you know that song?!"

"A-Ack...I..."

"ANSWER ME!" Kanato screamed, the warmth Airi felt completely vanish and left nothing but a frigid cold in her. Tear weld in her violet eyes as she struggled for air, trying to speak. "A-Airi...C-Can...'t...Breath!"

"Were you just trying to bug me? Upset me? Congratulations, you got your wish! What will you do now that you have my attention?! Were you sent by those demon-world whores?! Did my father pay you off?!"

Airi continued to struggle more, trying her best to pull the cold hands off of her throat so she could breath. The tears that fell down her pale face and the look of terror made Kanato have a sudden fit of laughter, loosening his hands a bit to allow her to breath for a little bit. The violet-haired man laughed and sighed, looking at her with a soft smile. It confused Airi: How did he suddenly change emotions? Did he forgive her?

"You...Really remind me...Of my little china doll. That look of terror on your face is so pretty, it's almost like I didn't lose her in the first place." He came close and sniffed the small girl, making her flinch and try to push against the wall for protection. The man let out a small hum with his pretty voice and giggled, "You even smell a bit like her...That's strange."

Kanato dropped Airi to the ground, only for her to curl up on the floor and gasp for sweet air, looking up in fear of what the man was going to do next. He crouched down with that smile still on his pale lips as he spoke, "My little china doll was so cute, so delicate, lovely, and easily breakable. I dressed her up in cute dresses and we played together. I got mad sometimes and cracked her, but I always managed to fix her...I wanted to marry my little china doll, I wanted for her to be mine forever. Do you want to know what happened to her?"

She didn't even need to answer, Kanato went on anyway. 

"I worked so hard to care for her, my little china doll was so kind. Then one day...She broke. I broke her...We all broke her!" Kanato smile slowly became twisted, laughing and giggling like a psychopath while Airi only pressed herself against the wall as some kind of protection. She was seven, but she certainly not stupid. The danger in his eyes warned her that if she tried to run, he would easily catch up with her and do something ruthless to her. "Ne, Teddy! You saw it all, didn't you? How  _all_ of us crushed her pathetic little body! There was so much blood everywhere! But...I wasn't myself?"

Kanato paused, looking down at his pale knees. "Yeah...I wasn't myself. If I love her so much...Why did I do it? Everyone else did it...My father, that man tricked me to break my little china doll! He told me to break her! That's right! It's not my fault that she broke, I didn't break her at all! Father did it! It's all his fault! It's all his fault! IT'S ALL HIS FAULT! SHE RAN AWAY FROM ME BECAUSE OF HIM! I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! IT'S ALL HIS FAULT!" He started screaming, fat tears collecting in his eyes and fall down his face. The pale blonde little girl only watched Kanato go through an unstable meltdown; he screamed, cried, and kept yelling that it wasn't his fault that his 'doll' broke and ran away from him. It was like watching one of her younger brothers or sisters throwing a tantrum after having one of their toys taken away or trying to convince their mother that they didn't do something they in fact did. Slowly, she sat up while watching Kanato cry. 

He's...A child...A sad child in an adult man's body.

As Airi watched, her heart started to hurt. It hurt for this sad man. Her brain called her stupid, that he was just tricking her into getting close so he could do something mean. Her heart encouraged her to go and comfort him, he was going through pain and deserved comfort like everyone else. The pale blonde eventually listened to her heart, for her heart was naive and her will was weak. Carefully, Airi stood up and hesitantly reached her hand out. Retracting it immediately, touching him wasn't a good idea. Nobody liked being touched when they were going through distress. The only think she could do was let the cocoon in her throat bloom into one million butterflies. 

"Um...Airi's Obaa-san once told her something. That you could cry and want something precious all you want, but it doesn't help you find your missing precious thing. Obaa-san told Airi that she needed to be calm and strong when she couldn't get her precious thing. Airi's precious thing is her Mommy, her Mommy gets sick a lot and has to go to the hospital. Sometimes, Mommy stays in a cold, lonely little room for weeks and Airi doesn't get to see her. Airi would cry for her a lot, she would want Mommy so much that she would lose her voice from crying so much. But Airi can't do anything, Mommy has to be away so she can get better. Maybe your doll ran away because she was sick...And had to get better. If you loved your doll like you said you did...Then you would be strong for your doll. When Onii-san can do that, maybe your doll will come back to you. If you still feel bad, apologize to her! Make her lots of yummy cakes and beg for forgiveness!...So...Don't cry?...Your doll will be sad that you keep calling out to her when she can't hear."

The violet-haired man grew silent his head down as he muttered, "...To be lectured by an annoying child..."

Ouch...Guess he still didn't like her. 

Airi nervously giggled and moved around the man, picking up her precious stuffed rabbit and showing it to him. "This is Bonnie! She's Airi's best friend! Well...Airi's only friend. Besides my brothers and sisters, Airi doesn't have any real friends. But Airi stays strong, so Mommy doesn't worry too much about Airi...As along as Airi has Bonnie, she's okay!"

"What about your Father?" Kanato asked.

"Ah...Airi doesn't have a Daddy." She replied sheepishly, hugging Bonnie to her chest as she looked away. "Airi has always never had a Daddy, so she's used to it. But she gets made fun of a lot for not having a Daddy...Sometimes, Airi wishes she had a Daddy so he could protect Mommy from the other adults. They all like to call her mean names and whisper about how Airi looks different from her brothers and sisters, we all look different. But that's why Airi needs to be strong! Airi will be her own Daddy to protect Mommy!"

"You're...Too naive, it's almost sickening."

"...Thank you?" The pale blonde tilted her head in confusion. She suddenly got an idea, digging her hand down the scoop neck of her pastel purple nightgown Karlheinz gifted to her earlier. "Airi always keeps a part of Mommy with her, it calms Airi down when she misses her. You can hold it if you want to calm you down!" 

"Airi-sama!" Morana ran to the two, her running slow with her limp but still considerably fast. The little girl's smile returned when she saw the maid, "Ana-chan!"

The maid got in between the two and bowed to Kanato, apologizing profusely. "I apologize for making you handle my responsibility, Kanato-sama! It was my job to watch over our guest, however she had ran off. Please forgive me for my poor performance."

"...Just get the annoyance to bed, I'm tired of looking at her." Kanato huffed, standing up and walking back into the room. Morana still bowed as she thanked him, taking Airi's hand and practically dragged her away. Kanato gingerly stepped over to his beloved teddy bear, picking it up and holding him in his embrace. 

"Teddy, did you sense it too? That annoying brat smelled like her...She had her hair...And her stupid innocence. Could it be..." A grin appeared on Kanato's face as he started to giggle, "My little china doll...Made us a marionette! She was so worried about me, that she made me a doll to come and check up on us! I knew she still loved me! But...I wish she came herself rather than that thing...It's mean."

Kanato giggled as he continued to chat with Teddy. 

"But it's okay. I'll give her four days to come, if she doesn't come I'll be really mad. She knows better than anyone not to make me mad!" Kanato stopped for a few seconds, letting Teddy talk before pouting. "Eh, what do you mean she didn't make a marionette? How can it smell like her and me?...A child? That thing is my child?" The pale man let out a fit of laughter, tears of joy welding in his eyes. "You're so funny, Teddy! That isn't my child, her fangs aren't even in!...Yes, I did see her hands...Her fingernails? Well they were." Kanato paused for second before answering,

"Red...No, it's probably just nail tint or something! I told Yui that we weren't having and children, they would take all of her attention away from me...In denial?! Why I never!...You want me to keep and eye on her? But I don't want to, we could be eating sweets instead!...No, you're never wrong...Fine, since you keep bugging me about it."

Meanwhile, Morana rushed Airi to the front of her bedroom. She stopped and knelled to her height. 

"Airi-chan, I was very scared when you were gone. Please don't do that ever again, okay?"

"Sorry, Ana-chan...But I heard Mommy's song and I"

"I know, but now isn't the right time." Airi blinked, how did Morana know? She didn't really tell her about her Mother's precious song. The brunette maid placed a hand in front of the seven-year-old and gave a soft, but sad, smile to her. "Forget about tonight, okay?"

Everything became black, Airi hit the floor and went out-cold. Morana picked up the small girl and her stuffed rabbit, carefully and quietly to her bed while Momoi slept peacefully. This was a rather dirty thing to do to a child, but it had to be done. Now wasn't the right time to reveal everything. All Morana wanted was to restore the peace and happiness of her masters, the balance of the mansion became unsteady ever since that day. But it was soon to fall back together,

There were only three days left until Subaru's birthday ball, the night where Yui comes back. 

**Author's Note:**

> Please help me out by giving me constructed criticism and what you like about the story!


End file.
